
Worth Rises
Model & Strategy
Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it touches, namely Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. Partnering with directly impacted people, Worth Rises works to expose the commercialization of the criminal legal system and the harm it causes. Worth Rises also advocates and organizes to protect and return the economic resources extracted from affected communities through coordinated policy and corporate campaigns. Through this work, Worth Rises strives to pave a road toward a safe and just world free of police and prisons.



Bianca Tylek founded Worth Rises with a deep commitment to criminal justice and unique skillset in financial and legal services. As a teen, Bianca was arrested and put on probation with a three-month suspended sentence hanging over her head. Three weeks later, her partner was murdered just eight months after coming home from prison. The experience changed her life forever, and Bianca committed to fighting for the dignity and humanity of incarcerated people and their loved ones.
Bianca spent her early professional years working as a financial analyst on Wall Street before becoming an attorney. Once in the criminal justice arena, Bianca realized that advocates were struggling to develop a strategic approach to challenge the commercial interests that influence our criminal legal system. Uniquely equipped, Bianca repurposed the myriad of skills she developed to build corporations to dismantle those in the prison industry.
Bianca has been honored as an Art for Justice Fellow, TED Fellow, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Harvard University Presidential Public Service Fellow, Ford Foundation Public Interest Fellow, Paul & Daisy Soros New American Fellow, and an Education Pioneers Analyst Fellow. Bianca holds a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Impact
Before the pandemic, families struggled to stay connected because of the cost of calls, and the COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated the issue as families struggle to stay afloat amidst job loss, unexpected elder and childcare, and in some cases, their own illnesses.
In response to decades of pressure by prison phone justice advocates and after a finding that emergency conditions existed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress included a provision in the CARES Act authorizing the Department of Justice to make phone calls free for people incarcerated in federal prison and their families.
A month later, the House passed the HEROES Act, including the COVID-19 Compassion and Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act, which would authorize and direct the FCC to regulate both interstate and intrastate prison and jail calls again.
Worth Rises News
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It’s us, we’re the snag… again… and with @PresenteOrg and @CommsNotPrisons. When will you call it quits Alabama?… https://t.co/wRm3ENQS4C
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RT @PresenteOrg: #Alabama’s continued efforts to build new prisons aren't going as planned. @WellsFargo @RaymondJames it’s time for you to…
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RT @BiancaTylek: I said what I said. “@CoreCivic’s entire existence is offensive to Black and brown communities... sometimes we’re at odd…
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We need to stop asking for racial equity audits and human rights audits of corporations that so obviously offend hu… https://t.co/gs1DCdfr3c
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RT @BiancaTylek: Every time the political tide shifts and private prisons fall out of favor in the carceral system, they turn to immigratio…
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Check out this new report from @Verite, urging scrutiny of prison labor in the US using the same international labo… https://t.co/khAM68TTTn
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Check out the new podcast, Prisons $ells, from our partners at @AbolishPrivate Prisons. Worth Rises ED @BiancaTylek… https://t.co/sJ3xZDG9x7
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“This is a bipartisan issue and effort that we can all very clearly get behind. In 2022, you have to be able to say… https://t.co/y48DVHVgoS
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RT @BiancaTylek: It’s 2022 and slavery is still legal. For a second, imagine not being protected from slavery by the 13th Amendment — our n…
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Take this day off to take action! The 13th Amendment has an exception that still allows slavery for some. We need t… https://t.co/gIfxLg46od
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Things haven’t changed much. Visit https://t.co/a4CdSe3YWz to tell Congress to #EndTheException in the 13th Amend… https://t.co/CCe1DME9ca
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Happy Juneteenth, but slavery is still legal. An insidious exception in the 13th Amendment still allows slavery and… https://t.co/UjK729zYTD
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RT @BiancaTylek: Happy Juneteenth, but SLAVERY IS STILL LEGAL. Take a minute today to take action and donate to #E…
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Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers behind bars parenting their babies. Here’s a sneak peak behind the scenes of… https://t.co/DmXkxEjUr9
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RT @NicoleFleetwoo2: My op-ed in @artnet examining art by @jasonomo111 & #jamesyayahough as a critique of prison slavery @MarkingTimeArt @…
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Great piece by @NicoleFleetwoo2 in @artnet today: “Prison art debunks the myth that slavery was abolished & makes t… https://t.co/2fuqQRZcQz
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RT @ACLU: The 13th Amendment outlaws slavery — with one major exception: Incarceration. Our criminal legal system relies on the forced lab…
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RT @ACLU: If states and the federal government can afford to incarcerate 1.2 million people, they can afford to pay them fairly for their w…
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RT @JosephGaylin: /1 I spent the last few days working alongside some incredible advocates, fighting to pass the abolition amendment—legisl…
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This Juneteenth, help truly abolish slavery. The Abolition Amendment would #EndTheException to the prohibition on s… https://t.co/QXIIssw7pZ