We’re excited that our sewing and tailoring skills development program has launched. The initial pilot is being delivered through Ottawa Community Housing at their Michele Heights location and we bring the equipment and instructors to them. We have a great group of women and it is wonderful to see how quickly their skills are developing!
Do you have a functioning sewing machine laying around the house that you aren’t using and don’t need? UWV is collecting sewing machines to support the sewing and tailoring skills for income generation program that we’re building out with Ottawa Community Housing. If you’re interested in donating your machine to be used in this great program, please contact us. Donations may be eligible for a charitable contribution income tax receipt. Thanks for your support!
We had the pleasure of attending a mural unveiling last week at Ottawa Community Housing together with local Ottawa artist and musician Claudia Salguero. Ottawa Community Housing provides programs for safe and vibrant communities throughout Ottawa, and UWV is working with the organization to establish and conduct a program for sewing and tailoring skills for income generation. To be launched early in 2016, this UWV program will provide disadvantaged women, new immigrants, and youth with new skills to assist their families and generate income. Not only will this program benefit the community in Ottawa, but it enables UWV to pilot a program that we hope to launch with a partner overseas within the year.
The women at Manav Vikas Parishad (MVP) currently produce sanitary napkins which they sell at reasonable cost within the local community to support the MVP operations and earn some personal income. While visiting with Bonnie Cappuccino from CHI, we provided a sample design for a yoga mat bag that the women could learn to produce and that could be sold to generate additional income.
I was excited to visit Manav Vikas Parishad (MVP) in Ghaziabad, India in November 2014 to see the new sewing machines that were purchased with UWV funding. 
MVP is an organization supported by Child Haven International (CHI) that provides a community development program for women. MVP trains local women in sewing skills and provides basic healthcare programmes. The women learn basic sewing skills in a six month course after which they have the knowledge to work with other tailors or sew for their families.