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Thinking Globally, Acting Locally.
The World in Your Neighborhood at the 2011 Heart of Gold Luncheon.
Behind every community there’s a story, and for an international city like Houston that means many stories. To put this into perspective this year’s Heart of Gold Celebration is bringing "The World in Your Neighborhood" – literally – to the table.
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Neighborhood Centers offers
emerging neighbors the opportunity
to grow their entrepreneurial
ventures and showcase their craft. |
The centerpieces on display at the annual luncheon are made by two special groups of local artisans who are bringing worldly art front-and-center by hand crafting art sculptures and weaving colorful cloths to decorate and bring this year’s luncheon theme "to life."
"The Community Cloth is a non-profit microenterprise supporting refugee women artisans, allowing them to showcase their craft and sell their hand-made goods at the price that they set," says Community Cloth Co-Founder Quynh-Anh McMahan. "It’s very empowering for them. The women that make these cloths each have a unique story of what brought them to this country, so essentially each cloth has a special story on how it got to the table. These cloths were made keeping our supporters in mind."
McMahan alludes to the generosity of organizations like Neighborhood Centers Inc. which works to keep Houston a place of opportunity for all who work for a better life – for people like the refugee women of Community Cloth. Through Neighborhood Centers’ Financial Success Initiative local artisans and entrepreneurs are learning to develop, operate, and thrive in their own businesses. Programming includes business courses, opportunities to network and sell merchandise, as well as access to mentors and the Promise Credit Union which offers small-business accounts.
Another artisan group, Arte de Mujer, or "The Art of Women," is handcrafting colorful clay sculptures called "Women of Serenity" and resemble every-woman-in-one. "The figures are shaped like women and have very abstract facial features, their skins are a blend of different colors, and their clothes represent different cultures. Our art represents all ethnicities in one, and every women in one," says Arte de Mujer Co-Founder Marisol Casares. She also adds that the art allows her and her sisters to showcase their ancestry to others who might otherwise never be exposed to other cultures."
Join us at the Heart of Gold Celebration February 24 where you can learn more about Arte de Mujer and the women of Community Cloth at the luncheon. You'll also witness McMahan’s journey to the U.S., as well as the journeys of other Houstonians, in the Neighborhood Centers Inc. documentary I Am Houston debuting at the luncheon.
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