Empower With Literacy
Empower With Literacy is an international educational organization dedicated to advancing global literacy rates through our four core service programs. Through worldwide fundraisers, events, chapters, and blogs, EWL aims to advocate and support for children's education on a global scale.
How We Started
Empower With Literacy was founded by Malaika Ali when she was 16 years old after she’d witnessed her sister endure the biological consequences of familial incest.
The circumstances of her upbringing - shaped by their parents’ incest and lack of education - left scars that drove Malaika to take action. She resolved to break the cycle of suffering caused by ignorance, believing educational empowerment could change lives. ​
Malaika’s journey began in Los Angeles, California, where she passionately fundraised at local colleges, including USC and UCLA. With a heart full of determination, she set up pop-up booths across the city, spreading her mission and engaging her community.
In 2024, Malaika officially founded Empower With Literacy. She wanted to create an initiative that was dedicated to advancing literacy rates in underprivileged environments in hopes of preventing future situations like hers take place. What initially began as a small endeavor, eventually began to grow into an international sensation. ​
At the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025, Malaika and her team worked relentlessly to transition EWL’s service programs, educational webinars, fundraisers, and outreach into an online platform. From there, EWL had begun snowballing into unimaginable impact.
Today, as the world’s largest youth-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing literacy in communities with high incest rates, Malaika looks forward to continuing this impact. “EWL has been nothing short of transformative for me. I still remember my very first fundraiser at UCLA - I was this shy, timid girl standing before hundreds of college students, sharing my dream of a world where a child’s access to education isn’t determined by their zip code, gender, or family income. That experience eventually snowballed, and led me to create an initiative with an impact larger than I could ever imagine. Every classroom we support, every student we empower, every barrier we help dismantle is a step toward a future where education is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all. I truly couldn’t be more grateful to every single volunteer, supporter, leader, and team member who’s helped make EWL’s vision come true through their passionate hard work. I can’t wait to see the impact EWL continues to make!”
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Empower With Literacy’s youth-led workers consistently work hard to ensure that we make an educational impact in every community that we possibly can. Click here to learn how YOU can be a part of that impact as well! ​​ ​
