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“Today’s children will become tomorrow’s civilization.”
L. Ron Hubbard
The Association for Better Living and
Education International (ABLE) is a secular, non-profit organization
which assists the implementation of programs in communities
around the world—programs designed to help our children
and all individuals overcome major barriers to living successful
and productive lives. Responding to community needs to address
problems of illiteracy and poor education, substance abuse,
unchecked criminality, and the general lowering or loss of moral
compass in our societies, ABLE supports the efforts of four
social betterment organizations as they work at a grass-roots
level to improve conditions. These are Applied Scholastics International,
Narconon International, Criminon International and The Way to
Happiness International.
Unique to each of the four organizations ABLE assists, is their
use of breakthrough methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard. As
will be shown on the following pages, these methods enable the
organizations and programs to effectively combat societal problems
in a wide variety of social, ethnic and national settings.
Beginning as grass-roots movements more than thirty-five years
ago, these programs have been spearheaded by individuals who
themselves experienced these life-changing methods. Having found
methods which work consistently and are broadly applicable across
cultures and in diverse socio-economic settings, these individuals
established programs to bring similar benefits to others.
In response to both the expansion of and demand for these programs,
as well as the exponential growth of social problems in the
 latter
half of the twentieth century, ABLE was formed in 1988 to coordinate,
consult and assist the independent social betterment programs.
Today ABLE helps these four social betterment corporations to
expand around the world in order to combat the scourges of illiteracy,
addiction, criminality and moral decay which burden people across
our societies:
Applied Scholastics International runs some 300 educational
organizations on six continents—ranging from inner-city
literacy and community education programs to a network of private
schools, all of which use the study methods developed by Mr.
Hubbard. It has effectively trained more than 65,000 teachers
in these methods in locales as diverse as the People’s
Republic of China, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe,
Ghana and the United States.
Narconon International operates more than 70 drug rehabilitation
centers in 30 countries around the world and has freed more
than 9,000 individuals from the shackles of drugs. It has also
introduced more than one million children to the truth about
drugs through its popular drug education program.
The Way To Happiness International has overseen the distribution
of more than fifty-six million copies of the secular, common-sense
moral code booklet, The Way to Happiness, in more than 70 countries.
It coordinates hundreds of activities which use the The Way
to Happiness booklet, written by Mr. Hubbard, to improve the
lives of children and adults.
Criminon International works to change the face of criminal
reform. Through on-site rehabilitation of hard-core offenders
jailed in countries such as Mexico, Israel, Taiwan and the United
States, through the reform of juvenile offenders in locations
from Utah to South Africa, and through correspondence courses
delivered to inmates in more than 1,400 prisons in 23 countries,
the program is restoring both young and old to productive, contributive
lives.
The significant results of these programs have led them to be
in demand around the world. But such expansion does not happen
automatically. Each of the organizations focuses primarily upon
expanding its delivery of services. ABLE, meanwhile, working
directly and through a  network
of continental and national offices, assists them to gain resources
and support and introduces the potential benefits of these programs
into new areas of need.
Broadly, then, ABLE ensures that these programs are known, available
and used to help our children in diverse cultures and societies
to reach satisfying and productive adulthood and to assist peoples
around the world who face social chaos and barriers to better
lives for themselves and their families. It authorizes qualified
groups to use L. Ron Hubbard’s technologies for educational
and charitable activities. And it works to ensure that these
programs get the resources they need and are well run. ABLE
also facilitates interaction of the programs with local social
improvement and community organizations to maximize the community’s
welfare.
Thus ABLE is a unique organization. It supports the activities
of the four social betterment organizations, promotes their
services, and works to integrate those programs into the community
in order to effectively address the needs of the individuals
in it. It also provides marketing and promotional services and
administrative and technical consulting. Facing outward, ABLE
reaches the community, its leaders and officials, and introduces
them to the services the four betterment organizations provide.
By doing so, it helps to find new ways to bring the benefits
of these programs to people in diverse locales around the world;
and helps to secure the resources and personnel necessary to
initiate and expand these programs.
While these social programs are found at the grass-roots level
and concentrate upon improving the lives of the people whom
they service, ABLE’s perspective and goal is to reach entire
communities and populations through the expansion of needed
programs. As L. Ron Hubbard wrote, in speaking of education,
“Our intent is not to just salvage a few students. Our
intent is to reverse this whole decay.” And this is true
for all these areas of social travail.
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“As a long-time
community servant, I have supported the efforts of  ABLE
for over 20 years. I find the work of this organization
honorable and the methods of L. Ron Hubbard incredibly
effective in the areas of education and drug rehabilitation.
I have personally witnessed the Narconon drug rehabilitation
program and Applied Scholastics education programs at
work. I salute ABLE for its efforts and wish them the
best in the future.”
Marcine Shaw
Former City Council member
Compton, California
“As a parent, I want my children, and all children,
to leave school with a real chance to make it in the world.
Anything that can contribute to  that
deserves a close look.
“But the problem runs much deeper than that. Kids
who don’t understand the world around them and how
they can contribute to it, are easily overwhelmed. They
make bad choices. The links between illiteracy, crime
and drug abuse have been demonstrated again and again.
“ABLE programs have used the
discoveries of L. Ron Hubbard for decades to handle these
problems. In particular, his breakthrough in education
is something that I hold very dear to my heart, which
is why I have supported it (and used it!) for many years.
I have personally seen this bring hope and joy to the
lives of children in our communities.”
John Travolta
Actor
“You kindle the  spirit
and determination of those of us who, through our health
and our station in life, have an opportunity to work with
ABLE to make life better for those who have fallen and
are looking for a hand.”
Representative Xavier Becerra United States Congress
“Through the help and guidance of ABLE International
we have built the Criminon extension course in the western
United States from four volunteers in the beginning to
over 700, serving thousands of inmates and helping them
turn their lives around  to
become honest, productive members of society.
“By applying
L. Ron Hubbard’s methods as used in the Criminon
program, I found that I could actually help an incarcerated
individual change and gain back his self-respect. This
is why I’ve dedicated myself to expanding Criminon
across the globe. Today there are over 7,000 inmates on
correspondence courses—and the results have been
life-saving.”
Joan Lonstein
Criminon Organizer |
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