Racial Equity- Mentoring-Social Justice-Prison Reform-Housing for Women
BEAUTY AFTER THE BARS
Support Beauty After the Bars
Your Support Changes Lives
Your support helps Beauty After the Bars continue our mission of keeping women, girls, and youth out of jails and prisons while supporting women and families impacted by incarceration.
Every contribution helps us provide mentoring, education, advocacy, reentry support, workforce and economic mobility resources, and pathways toward stability and self-sufficiency.
Your generosity also helps us create safe, supportive spaces where women returning home can rebuild their lives in an environment filled with Love, Hope & Healing.
When you give to Beauty After the Bars, you are investing in second chances, stronger families, brighter futures, and healthier communities.
Education Instead of Incarceration.
Prevention. Reentry. Restoration. Opportunity.
Donate today and help us turn second chances into new beginnings.
BEAUTY AFTER THE BARS -The HOPE FOR ALL WOMEN
About Us
Beauty After the Bars Mission
Beauty After the Bars
Education Instead of Incarceration
Beauty After the Bars (BATB) is a Charlotte, North Carolina–based nonprofit organization committed to empowering women, girls, youth, and families impacted by incarceration and the criminal justice system.
Founded by Tiawana Brown, a Charlotte native, formerly incarcerated woman, community advocate, author, and justice reform leader, Beauty After the Bars was created from lived experience and a belief that people and communities deserve access to opportunity, resources, healing, and support—not simply punishment.
Our Mission
Our mission is to educate, advocate, and create pathways that keep women, girls, and youth out of jails, prisons, and the justice system while supporting individuals and families impacted by incarceration.
Beauty After the Bars works to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, strengthen successful reentry, promote racial equity and economic mobility, and address the systemic barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized and underserved communities.
What We Do
Through mentoring, advocacy, education, reentry support, leadership development, and community partnerships, BATB works with women, girls, youth, and families at multiple points along the justice-system continuum.
Our work includes:
- Youth Prevention & Mentoring — Providing positive mentorship, leadership development, social-emotional learning, and opportunities designed to help young people thrive and avoid justice-system involvement.
- School-to-Prison Pipeline Intervention — Advocating for education, support, restorative approaches, and opportunity instead of unnecessary criminalization.
- Women & Girls Empowerment — Helping women and girls build confidence, leadership skills, stability, and pathways toward economic independence.
- Reentry Support — Assisting formerly incarcerated women and mothers with resources and connections that support successful transitions back into their families and communities.
- Support During Incarceration — Working with individuals who are currently incarcerated to begin addressing reentry needs before release.
- Economic Mobility — Connecting participants to employment, workforce development, financial wellness, entrepreneurship, education, and other opportunities that support long-term stability.
- Advocacy & Systems Change — Using lived experience, community engagement, education, and advocacy to advance racial justice, economic mobility, and more equitable policies and practices.
Partnership Is Our Strength
Beauty After the Bars understands that no single organization can do this work alone. We build collective partnerships with grassroots organizations, schools, government agencies, community leaders, justice-system partners, businesses, and people with lived experience to connect individuals and families with the resources they need.
Our work has included collaboration and engagement with organizations and institutions throughout Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, including local schools, community organizations, law enforcement, detention and reentry partners, and other service providers.
Our Vision
We envision communities where a young person's future is not determined by their ZIP code, circumstances, mistakes, or involvement with the justice system.
We believe in education instead of incarceration, opportunity instead of barriers, restoration instead of rejection, and second chances that lead to lasting change.
Beauty After the Bars is working to create a future where women, girls, and youth have the tools, relationships, resources, and opportunities they need to become successful, self-sufficient, and unbreakable.
“Education Instead of Incarceration”
Keeping women, girls, and youth out of jail and prison. Supporting those coming home. Strengthening families. Transforming communities.
Ramona Brant Legacy lives on. We love you Ramona.
Advocate
Wife & Mother
Wife & Mother
Our mentoring programs are designed to support women and girls who are transitioning back into the community. We provide guidance, resources, and a supportive network to foster personal growth and economic mobility.
Wife & Mother
Wife & Mother
Wife & Mother
Ramona will forever be missed and was survived by her two sons, husband, grandchildren, and many family and friends.
History Maker
Wife & Mother
History Maker
In the short two years since she was pardoned by President Barack Obama, Ramona made an impact by striving to change laws and correct injustices done to women just like her.
Fighting For Change
National Council
Pardoned By Barack Obama
National Council
A 501 (c) 3, The mission of the National Council For Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls (National Council) is to end the incarceration of women and girls by building a movement grounded in sisterhood, solidarity and human rights.
CAN-DO
Pardoned By Barack Obama
National Council
A 501(c) 3 nonprofit foundation that advocates Clemency for All Non-violent Drug Offenders. These are the faces of the drug war. Behind every face is a human with a story. Overly punitive drug laws create negative consequences that trigger a chain reaction upon innocent family members, friends and our society. http://www.candoclemency.com
Pardoned By Barack Obama
Pardoned By Barack Obama
Pardoned By Barack Obama
On March 30, 2016, President Barack Obama granted commutation of sentence to 61 individuals. On the same day The President also stopped by a White House meeting to meet with Ramona Brant and other individuals who had been granted clemency in the past.
https://medium.com/@ObamaWhiteHouse/life-after-prison-ramona-brant-83212d36ea86
ALARMING STATISTICS
Welcome to the New Hope. Love.Healing Homes for Women
Beauty after the Bars, new HOPE. LOVE. HEALING. HOME-is a faith-centered, trauma-informed supportive housing and reentry resource created for justice-impacted women to apply for services before, during, and after incarceration. Our mission is to provide stability through housing, emotional healing, hope, life-skills support, and pathways to independence so women can rebuild their lives with dignity, purpose, and community.