Services and Programs - Changing Lives

Learning

While Overcoming the Past

“This system is unique because it allows the women to have access to over 10,000 free educational Web sites all over the world,” says Richard, who also facilitates the program. This wealth of resources—woven into the healing, transformation, preparation and community-integration cycles of the Mission’s current recovery curriculum—serves to improve and enhance the outcomes of the New Life Discipleship Program.

“The educational program is an integral part of transforming lives here at the Mission,” says Women’s Services Director Nancy deMaille, who works closely with the students on a daily basis. “It reaches them at their skill and academic levels and that really helps raise their self-esteem. It opens their thought processes and lets them see the bigger picture. It is allowing the women to learn so much more than anything we were able to provide before, because it meets each woman at her point of need and skills level.”

There are many life opportunities for people in the middle or upper classes, Richard explains, but often men and women living in poverty are denied chances to improve their own circumstances. “This program encourages the women at the Mission to learn and to break the ties of poverty. Where poverty suppresses, this program encourages.” “It is so exciting to see the women progress,” Nancy says. “A woman may just be at a grade-school level, but she can really begin to learn and set goals for the future!”

Your financial support is critical to the expansion and growth of our many programs, which bring healing and wholeness to broken lives. Read the moving story below of how the Learning Center is providing a life-transforming education for a once-homeless woman named Mina—and how you can help!