Visit the new blog! Click!
Hot off the Press!
I started 2011 on a roll, with lots of new ideas for TAFA and a vision for a local, new project, working with low income women here in Paducah. Check out the new blog. I am still working on loading it with information, so if you take a tour and see some blank pages, check back again in a couple of days for more.
The basic idea is to take all the things that I have learned over the last 20 plus years about product design and internet marketing and break them down into a teachable format. My goal is to work with low income women who have some basic skills (they know how to write, have surfed the web, have good fine motor skills, show promise of creativity) and expose them to all of the different steps that go into selling a product, from production to the selling point.
The program will last two years with the first one focusing on production and design and the second on business skills. At the end of the program, they will have been exposed to whole new worlds, deepening their ability to make some choices for themselves. They could end up starting their own home business or they might decide to go back to school, or they might have a new set of skills that will make them more employable in other jobs.
As important, the program participants will become a part of a new community, have a support system, and hopefully, increase their own self esteem. The target population that I envision are single mothers who have hit a hard wall for one reason or another. I also see this as a great opportunity for disabled women who may not be able to work in normal job settings and for women who have been incarcerated.
I intend to steal great ideas from others who are working with similar projects, whether they are fair trade, micro-enterprise, cottage industry or back-to-work models. The Sewing Project will be a transparent endeavor, using the blog to document the process as well as other resources we find along the way. The goal is that after two years, we will have a program that can be replicated in other communities, using their own local resources.
Visit the blog. Right now, I need a lot of support in two ways: seed money and feedback. Read the current needs page to find out more. Spread the word! And, I thank you in advance for your support.
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“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth.”
“Whatever you say, say it with conviction.”
(Both by the master, Mark Twain)
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