MADI Makes Job Training Program
"Give a woman a fish and you feed her for a day. Teach a woman to fish and you feed her for a lifetime." In May of 2018, our 501c3 non-profit subsidiary - MADI Donations - launched MADI Makes, a seamstress job-training program for at-risk women in Kansas City.
Watch to learn more:
(Video by Michael Saldivar)
Meet our two graduates: Andrescia and Amanda.
Both women are now contract-employed by MADI Apparel to cut and sew our products in-house.
^We must thank a few key members from our team for working yard alongside Amanda and Andrescia to ensure their graduation! Above from left to right: MADI Donations Director (Pam Besheer), MADI Donations President/MADI Apparel founder Hayley Santell, Graduate (Amanda), Graduate (Andrescia), program trainer (Miranda Treas), MADI Makes board member and program director (Alfredo).
Please join us in congratulating our recent graduate, Amanda!
One day she dreams of owning a house, having a job she loves and most of all - being financially stable.
Her short term goal is saving to enroll her son Axel in a good school, and to set him up for a lifestyle that keeps him away from the things she was exposed to at a young age.
Amanda is a mom of six, although Axel is the only child that remains in her care. He is the only child she gave birth to in sobriety. The other five were removed from her care as a result of addiction. "My past doesn't define who I am today."
Meet Amanda. A few months ago, she joined our MADI Makes seamstress training program. She was excited to learn how to sew, and she was excited about the promise that - graduation means employment, by us. (Once apprentices graduate from our non-profit program, MADI Apparel (for-profit) may then employ the women on a contract-basis to regularly sew our garments.) We've come to know her as the light in the room. She's kind, motivated, reliable, funny and patient.
Getting to where she is right now hasn't been easy...read her story on our blog.
More about MADI Makes:
MADI Donations is the non-profit subsidiary of MADI Apparel, the KC-based company that donates a pair of underwear to women in need for every intimate item sold.
The MADI Makes program empowers individuals to break cycles of chronic homelessness + unemployment and create pathways to self-sufficiency through a learned vocational skill. The goal of the program is to help at-risk women with employment barriers attain and sustain jobs and build a better life. Working in partnership with Hope Faith Ministries, the program will teach women to sew the donations pairs of underwear on commercial machines.
Once the apprentice successfully graduates from the program, MADI Apparel (our for-profit company) will hire the women to sew on a contract basis. Not only will apprentices learn commercial sewing skills, but also basic work skills, workplace interaction skills and other skills needed to build confidence and pave the way toward fulfilling employment in the community and the growing garment industry.
Andrescia, featured in the video, is our first successful graduate and currently being contract employed to cut/sew our garments!
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Video by: Michael Saldivar