On Friday, October 24, 2008 the Afghan Coalition will proudly participate in a holiday fair hosted by the East Bay Community Foundation. The event will take place before and after the Alameda County Funders’ Forum in the foundation’s conference center in downtown Oakland. Guests to the forum will have the opportunity to shop for the holidays and meet micro-enterprise entrepreneurs from local nonprofit programs including the Afghan Coalition’s Jewelry Making Program. Other participants include Anew America Community Corporation, Creating Economic Opportunities for Women, West Contra Costa Business Development Center, and Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment.
About the Afghan Coalition Jewelry Making Program
With the support of a seed grant from Wells Fargo, in spring of 2007 the Afghan Coalition established a successful jewelry making program to teach refugee and other immigrant women entrepreneurial skills with the objective of increasing self-sufficiency in a supportive environment. The Jewelry Making Program is an extension of the Afghan Coalition’s ongoing support programs for women – safe arenas where women learn new skills, receive health education and provide mutual social support while working on jewelry making and other craft projects.
The Jewelry Making Program trains participants in a handicraft skill they can carry out in their own time – beading and jewelry making. Many participants come to the program with experience in beading and jewelry making from their time spent in Pakistan’s refugee camps. Women who have been isolated have experienced opportunities to socialize with each other and share ideas and experience. The program involves a weekly three-hour workshop, which includes training in the handicraft skills as well as skills of money management, budgeting, marketing and other entrepreneurial skills. The Afghan Coalition’s vision is to develop the program so that participants in turn become trainers who empower other members of the community.
Holiday Fair: The Wares of Local Entrepreneurs
Friday, October 24, 2008, Noon – 2:30 pm.
East Bay Community Foundation Conference Center,
353 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland.
No registration necessary.
