RAI Prepares to Welcome New Artisans!

In an exciting month at RAI, assessment days have begun! This past month, women from RAI’s waitlist visited the Maker’s Space for an opportunity to show their sewing skills and to meet current artisans. We are looking forward to bringing in more artisans to partner with RAI. In the beginning days of RAI, Executive Director Ming-Ming started out with just 4 artisans. After this round of additions to the team, 38 refugee and immigrant women will earn income at RAI.

Thanks to the BECU Foundation for funding the addition of 6 artisans to RAI's team via a Green Equity Initiative grant. We are grateful to be able to create opportunities for more refugee and immigrant women to earn equitable income while keeping hard-to-recycle materials out of the landfill!

As we continue to build the diversity of our artisans and with several complex projects in the near future, RAI will likely have more openings for extremely advanced sewers soon. If you or someone you know is a refugee or immigrant woman facing barriers to employment who is skilled using a sewing machine/able to craft advanced designs, please fill out the interest survey here. We are also looking forward to offering classes later this year to help more prospective artisans build their beginning sewing skills!