TRUSTED BY SUCH AGENCIES AS:
Meet the founder
Since 1991, Andre’s personal experiences have helped him empower companies to have authentic, unvarnished conversations that drive change. To date, he has impacted communities in 25 countries, from North America to West Africa, with his story of perseverance and commitment to social change. Andre has delivered 1,230 speeches and helped 1,720 companies make a positive impact on society.
Through cultivating a relationship with you, he can help you clarify and establish your cause so you can effectively advance social justice in your community and the world. Andre’s approach ensures that you receive unwavering, individual support every step of the way.
Our Programs
Academy of Hope is considered a trusted authority in many areas pertaining to prison reform and incarceration initiatives. Some of the ways we engage are listed below. Contact us for more information on how your business or organization can get involved.
Violence Interruption
Mentoring for the prison influencers & leaders
MENTORSHIP
Violence interruption is a community-based approach to reducing communal and interpersonal violence that treats violence as a public health problem.
No Entry Program for Youth
Community outreach to at-risk and proven-risk youth
YOUTH PROGRAM
Equip students with the education, resources, and support necessary to put them on the right path and keep them on it.
Correctional Staff Training
Experience based training for correctional staff
TRAINING FOR STAFF
Awareness, ethics, and compliance training for corrections officers is a key program for success.
Pep Talk Program
Prison Entry Program, experienced based orientation
INMATE SUPPORT
Providing support for inmates and their families with peer based initiatives for success.
BENCHMARKS
Over the past decade, companies have promoted corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in an effort to put a human face on their corporate image. Today, CSR is no longer enough – it’s a generic standard that lacks substance and doesn’t demonstrate a real, tangible impact on social justice.
Leading corporations are evolving their mindset from CSR to corporate social justice (CSJ) by moving past feel-good projects and committing to positive, actionable initiatives. Business leaders have the power to become a platform for change but often don’t have the knowledge or trusted support system to get started. Leave a lasting impact on employees, families, and communities at large by starting with just one action.
DEEPEN THE TIES TO FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
Our goal is to inspire incarcerated individuals to stay connected with their families, create safer corrections facilities with technology, encourage hope for all, and offer real support for successful re-entry efforts while building stronger, better communities.
EDUCATE EVERY INMATE & EVERYBODY
We inspire incarcerated individuals to stay connected with their families, create safer corrections facilities with technology, encourage hope for all, and offer real support for successful re-entry efforts while building stronger, better communities.
INFORMATION & SUPPORT FOR FAMILY
Providing technology with the hope of making the facilities safer, reconnecting families and helping inmates succeed. These tools offer active engagement to help them become better people, strengthen their self development, as well as communicating with family and friends.
Expand education
Effects OF INCARCERATION
Trauma has extreme and potentially devastating effects on emotional health, especially when it lasts a long time. People who are exposed to danger repeatedly or for a long time may develop continuous traumatic stress disorder (CTSD) as a response.
real impact
HERE ARE SOME OUR RESULTS
Results matter and the understanding produces greater results. Here are some of ours.
AOH is doing great work! I only wish I knew more about programs like this sooner to help turn around the lives of people who get in trouble with the law. The concepts are simple - thinking of others, controlling negative emotions, personal responsibility - are all important things for each of us to learn. Was glad to be a part of the mission and vision of this organization. Andre is so good at what he does. His passion shows through in it all.
- John Callaway
Entrepreneur, Real Estate Investor
Andre recently spoke to our Life Study Group, which we are just over a year old, at a conference. Our organization and the juvenile justice officials have a growing respect for the AOH Program. They see it as valuable and encourage its continuation to help foster better interactions between kids and their parents to keep them out of the system. Truly eye opening!
- Tiffany Ahgnew
Lead Youth Coordinator, Nonprofit Organization
Andre and his team have a true desire to see global change. He convinced me that the presence of education in prison gives people a chance to radically improve their lives for the betterment of all of us. I truly see there is another way, one of dignity and true respect, rather than just fear and hopelessness. I will always be a supporter of AOH and all that Andre does. It's for the good of all.
- Rob Berkman
CEO & Founder, Tech Supply Chain
From Prisoner to Professor
From illiteracy to gang activity, Andre’s childhood prepared him for nothing less than a life of crime and violence. This behavior eventually led Andre to be sentenced to over 100 years in prison.
As a natural-born leader, he quickly rose to the top of the prison gang system where he managed gang activities from within the confines of a maximum security prison. During his two year stay in solitary confinement, Andre had an “epiphany” and he made the decision to turn his life around.
He has a simple dream to attend Harvard University and become successful. Over the next eight years, Andre worked twenty hours per day towards making this dream a reality. First, he taught himself how to read, then to understand the law and without hesitation, participated in anger management groups. After winning his appeal and having been armed with a GED and a dream, Andre walked out of prison in 1999, after serving fourteen years.
Educate & connect
The Ambassador of Hope TURNING POVERTY AND PRISON INTO A PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE
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