Overview

The mission of Fashion & Compassion is to transform the lives of women overcoming poverty and injustice through holistic economic empowerment and connection to individualized community resources. We do so in a loving community environment that facilitates spiritual, emotional and physical healing. Background: Founded in late 2012, Fashion & Compassion works with women and few men in the southeastern US and six other countries utilizing handcrafts (primarily jewelry and accessories) as a tool to provide part-time employment and bring women together in a supportive community environment. We work in Charlotte, Atlanta, Charleston, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Mexico and Honduras. In Charlotte we work with women overcoming trafficking, addiction, incarceration, domestic abuse, single and pregnant moms as well as refugees and immigrants. We offer 3 weekly jewelry projects that employ 10 women each. The Jewelry Projects are 4 hours long and include a “lunch & learn” where lunch is provided and a topic is discussed/presented. We work with the women to develop an Artisan Empowerment Plan which established dreams/goals and milestones within 3 phases. Our Artisan Empowerment Coordinator works with the Artisans and connects them with community resources to help them achieve their goals.