B.T.W.E.N. programs inspire
participants to:
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| Increase Self-Worth | |
| Discover Confidence | |
| Strengthen Character | |
| Build Healthy | |
| Relationships | ||
| Uncover Life's Purpose | |
| Make a Difference | |
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A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization
| BOOKER T. WASHINGTON EMPOWERMENT NETWORK, Inc., BTWEN presents . . . The Up From Freedom Project and the future Booker T. Washington Dream Center™ |
UP FROM FREEDOM PROJECT
CONNECTING THE PAST TO INSPIRE THE FUTURE
"Up From Freedom Project" is comprised of two components, "Project 16," a character education,
coaching and mentoring program, followed by the Freedom Journey, a rite of passage following in the
footsteps of Booker T. Washington from slavery to freedom.
The program is intended especially for disadvantaged “at-risk” youth who want to do better, but lack
the necessary resources, skills, and support to do so.
PROJECT 16
"Project 16" is an intensive program, designed to enhance mental, intellectual, physical, emotional,
cultural, social, and spiritual well-being .
Project “16” is intended to reach disadvantaged individuals, including:
• Students at-risk of dropping out of high school
• Pregnant teens and teenage parents
• “At-risk” high school student athletes
• Parents on welfare who are seeking to become self-sufficient
• Families reunifying after a difficult period of absence
In addition, for physically able, disadvantaged youth,"Project 16" prepares them to go on the
"Freedom Journey" (see below) providing them with an opportunity to learn concrete, life-changing
lessons from history.
Youth will gain hands on experience in helping to plan the trip following in the footsteps of Booker T.
Washington from slavery to freedom.
FREEDOM JOURNEY
Begins at Booker T. Washington’s birthplace in Franklin County, Virginia, where he was born a slave.
Then we move on to West Virginia, where he lived, and worked in coal mines as a boy, immediately
following slavery.
From there we travel to Hampton University in Virginia, where Washington gained his formal
education.
The youth will also travel to Washington DC, where Washington was the first African-American to
dine at the White House, at the invitation of President Roosevelt.
And on to Tuskegee Alabama, where he opened a school where former slaves and their descendants
could get an education, today known as Tuskegee University.
(Each stop along the trip is a national historic monument.)
Continuing to espouse the teachings of Booker T. Washington in the area of leadership, at the end of
the "Up From Freedom Project" each participant will be responsible for going back to their
communities to volunteer in an area where they feel they have gained strength.
PROJECT “LEGACY”
Throughout the year, Project “Legacy,” will reach thousands of men, women, and children by
delivering speeches, psycho-educational workshops, and book readings given by Sarah Washington
O’Neal Rush, the Executive Director of B.T.W.E.N., and the great-granddaughter of Booker T.
Washington.
Project “Legacy” will reach out to the following organizations: elementary, middle, and high schools
(individual classrooms and entire student bodies); foster care agencies; courts; welfare-to-work
programs; pregnant teen programs; youth organizations; recovery programs; social service
agencies; and various other community based organizations.
As the great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington, an author, and a mental health professional,
who has risen above tremendous personal circumstances, Ms. Rush is a nationally sought out
speaker on the Booker T. Washington legacy, and rising above difficulties.
Presentations include parallels between her great-grandfather’s story of rising above slavery to
becoming a famous leader, and the founder of Tuskegee University, and her own personal journey—
from being a single teenage mother, to living on her own at the age of seventeen in a housing project
in East Oakland, to coming off of welfare and government subsidized housing, to becoming a
published author, business owner, and earning a Master’s degree in professional psychology.
Project “Legacy” will provide lessons from the rich history of Booker T. Washington, and other multi-
ethnic ancestral leaders who have achieved success against extremely adverse odds. Realizing the
great influence on self-worth that comes from learning about family history, Project “Legacy” will
also highlight the benefits and give resource information, and techniques on how to explore ones’
own ancestry, as well as the teaching the importance of going back into the community to pass on
historical learning.
One cannot hold another down in the ditch without staying down in the ditch with
him, and in helping the man who is down to rise, the man who is up is freeing himself
from a burden that would else drag him down. For the man who is down, there is
always something to hope for, always something to be gained.
Booker T. Washington
him, and in helping the man who is down to rise, the man who is up is freeing himself
from a burden that would else drag him down. For the man who is down, there is
always something to hope for, always something to be gained.
Booker T. Washington
Copyright © 2009 BTWEN, Inc. All Rights Reserved
BTWEN, P.O. Box 3311, San Leandro, CA 94578, 510.278.1634
