Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Non-profit

Worth Rises

Website:

worthrises.org
Location:

NEW YORK, NY
Tax ID:

83-3653756
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2020):

Revenue: $1,046,650
Expenses: $790,814
Assets: $924,204
Type:

Criminal Justice Advoicacy
Founded:

2017
Founder and executive director:

Bianca Tylek

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Worth Rises, formerly the Corrections Accountability Project at the Urban Justice Center, is a research and advocacy organization focused on dismantling the prison system. 1 2 Programs include research and public education on the prison industry, and policy advocacy and activism focused on attacking for-profit companies that provide services to prisons.

Background

Worth Rises was founded in 2017 by Bianca Tylek to dismantle the prison system 3 through research, public education, and policy advocacy and activism. 4 Tylek believes that private corporations profiting from the prison industry have a financial interest in increasing the number of people incarcerated for longer periods of time. 5 Worth Rises’ stated vision is “a world without police and prisons.” 6

Worth Rises was previously the Corrections Accountability Project housed at the Urban Justice Center, a left-leaning legal foundation and advocacy organization located in New York City, referred to as “an incubator for progressive ideas and projects.” 7

Programs

Through its public education program, Worth Rises conducts research and analysis relating to the prison industry. 8 Worth Rises’ website offers a free self-guided course about the prison industry and the group’s fight to eliminate it. 9

In 2018, the organization published its first report, “The Prison Industrial Complex: Mapping Private Sector Players,” which identifies more than 3,100 companies that it claims benefit financially from incarceration. The report was intended to provide information to activists, the media, and the public to fight the commercialization of prisons. 10

In December 2020, Worth Rises published “The Prison Industry: How it started. How it works. How it harms,” which documents businesses involved in the prison industry by sector. 11

“The Prison Industry: Mapping Private Sector Players.” is an updated report published in May 2020 identifying corporations that profit from the prison industry. 12

Worth Rises also organizes campaigns against companies that profit from the prison industry. 13

Connect Families Now is a series of campaigns in multiple states to make prison and jail phone calls free. 14 As the Corrections Accountability Project, Worth Rises was involved in the initiative to make jail phone calls in New York City free of charge. 15 In 2021, Connecticut made all prison phone calls free. 16

End the Exception is a campaign to stop the practice of having prisoners work at below-market rates, claiming that this is slavery and must be abolished. 17 Worth Rises is a member of the Abolish Slavery National Network, advocating for the abolition of below-market-rate prison work. 18

The Death for Profit campaign opposes the death penalty. Most recently, petitions were delivered to the consultancy group FDR Safety to drop its contract with the state of Alabama to develop safer execution protocols. 19

Financials and Donors

The 2020 tax return for Worth Rises shows revenues of $1,046,650 including $1,043,624 in contributions and grants received. Expenses were $790,814 including $585,354 in employee compensation and benefits. 20

2020 donors include Good Ventures Foundation and Urban Justice Center. 21

Leadership

Bianca Tylek is founder and executive director of Worth Rises. After starting her career as a financial analyst, Tylek worked as an intern on the Campaign to End Mass Incarceration at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She then worked at corrections facilities in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York. Prior to founding Worth Rises, Tylek was an equal justice works fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, 22 a think tank and activist organization focused on left-of-center policy issues including ending mass incarceration. 23

Maya Ragsdale joined Worth Rises as chief counsel in 2021. She started her career as a public defender and in 2020 she became a justice catalyst fellow for activist group Dream Defenders, supporting the abolitionist movement in Florida. 24 In 2020 Ragsdale founded activist organization Beyond the Bars, 25 which organizes incarcerated people in Miami. 26

Board member Anika Warren Wood is a member of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation operating committee. 27

Board member Sam Jacobs is the national organizer for donor relations for Right to the City Alliance. 28

References

  1. “Worth Rises.” Crunchbase. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worth-rises
  2. “Previous Projects We Incubated.” Urban Justice Center. Accessed July 24, 2022. https://www.urbanjustice.org/news-room/success-stories/
  3.  “Worth Rises.” Crunchbase. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worth-rises
  4. “About Us.” Worth Rises. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/aboutus
  5. Bianca Tylek. “The multibillion-dollar US prison industry — and how to dismantle it.” TED. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.ted.com/talks/bianca_tylek_the_multibillion_dollar_us_prison_industry_and_how_to_dismantle_it
  6. “The Prison Industry: How It Started, How It Works, How It Harms: How It Started, How It Works, How It Harms: How it Started.” Worth Rises. December 15, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Industry-Started-Works-Harms/dp/1638487162/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LR2LOO8JBRN6&keywords=The+Prison+Industry%3A+How+it+started.+How+it+works.+How+it+harms.&qid=1657217954&sprefix=the+prison+industry+how+it+started.+how+it+works.+how+it+harms.%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-1&asin=1638487162&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
  7. Joyce Wadler. “PUBLIC LIVES; Ferreting Out the Legal Rights of the Poor.” New York Times. October 31, 2000. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/31/nyregion/public-lives-ferreting-out-the-legal-rights-of-the-poor.html
  8. Worth Rises Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.
  9. The Prison Industry: The Curriculum.” Worth Rises. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/thecurriculum
  10. “Corrections Accountability Project’s Report ‘Exposes’ 3,100 Corporations.” Correctional News. April 26, 2018. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://correctionalnews.com/2018/04/26/corrections-accountability-project-report-2018/
  11. “The Prison Industry: How It Started, How It Works, How It Harms: How It Started, How It Works, How It Harms: How it Started.” Worth Rises. December 15, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Industry-Started-Works-Harms/dp/1638487162/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LR2LOO8JBRN6&keywords=The+Prison+Industry%3A+How+it+started.+How+it+works.+How+it+harms.&qid=1657217954&sprefix=the+prison+industry+how+it+started.+how+it+works.+how+it+harms.%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-1&asin=1638487162&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
  12. “Resources.” Worth Rises. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/resources
  13. Worth Rises Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.
  14. “Current Campaigns.” Worth Rises. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/ourcampaigns
  15. “Previous Projects We Incubated.” Urban Justice Center.  Accessed July 2, 2022. https://www.urbanjustice.org/news-room/success-stories/
  16. “Connecticut becomes first state to make all prison phone calls free.” Associated Press. June 22, 2021. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/22/connecticut-first-state-make-prison-phone-calls-free/5302390001/
  17. End the Exception website. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://endtheexception.com/
  18. Maliya Ellis. “A constitutional question? Juneteenth holiday spurs discussions about prison reform.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 20, 2022. Accessed July 11, 2022. https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2022/06/20/juneteenth-end-of-slavery-prison-reform-decarceration-punishment-abolition-amendment-us-constitution/stories/202206190173
  19. Twitter – The Tennessee Holler. February 14, 2022. Accessed July 24, 2022. https://twitter.com/thetnholler/status/1493350887447838721?s=21
  20. Worth Rises Inc. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.
  21. “Worth Rises.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed July 24, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=worth+rises
  22. “Bianca Tylek.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancatylek/
  23. “Our Issues.” Brennan Center for Justice. Accessed July 6, 2022. https://www.brennancenter.org/issues
  24. “Our Team.” Worth Rises. – About Us. Accessed July 7, 2022 https://worthrises.org/aboutus
  25. Maya Ragsdale.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayaragsdale/
  26. “History.” Beyond the Bars. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://www.beyondthebars.com/history
  27. “Our Board.” Worth Rises – About Us. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/aboutus
  28. “Our Board.” Worth Rises – About Us. Accessed July 7, 2022. https://worthrises.org/aboutus
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 2020

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2020 Dec Form 990 $1,046,650 $790,814 $924,204 $57,233 N $1,043,624 $0 $2,626 $150,000

    Worth Rises


    NEW YORK, NY