We were scheduled to travel to Kenya on June 2020, but the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. However, we turned a problem into a solution by connecting with our students over Zoom. What started as a virtual greeting with our Dago students, to keep our hopes alive, became a full fledge class. Without much to lose, we followed the rest of the world and reinvented our capacity building workshops to weekly 2hr classes. We have fought language barriers, connectivity issues, manual sewing machines in Dago versus electric machines in Miami, lack of proper fabrics and sewing machines, and many other crazy issues.  Nevertheless, DLG has sparked creativity by showing a group of girls across oceans and continents that anything is possible. Simple tools taught in a sewing machine are the beginning of many possibilities. We are lucky to have partners such as One Way Out Kenya, Weiss Scholarship Foundation and Friends of Dago that make our meetings possible. We are thankful that they have given us the chance to partner with them and support girls in Kenya, and recently a group of women in Uganda from Arise for Families.

Zooming Into Africa!

Please click here to donate and join us in the effort to keep our community and families safe! 
Your generous donations help us deliver masks to the healthcare community plus groups that work with women, children, and others in need.

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OUR HISTORY

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DesignLab Give was born in 2017, when Angie Cohen, the founder of DesignLab Miami* shared her vision with a few of her adult students: “My dream is to GIVE these classes to the women who need it and don’t have access to them. Sharing her vision, Paula Villamizar, one of her students at the time, took the dream to another level by creating a non-profit organization. Soon enough, other team members joined. This group of culturally diverse women realized that other women both regionally and globally have neglected potential by living in socially challenging situations that don’t come by choice.

Our team carefully crafts the learning programs with a focus on a dedicated one-on-one approach, providing equipment for creating, executing, and ultimately channeling their unique products on the market. With this learned skill, their communities and families will benefit.

Our aim is simple, to change the cycle of poverty, through creativity for as many women as possible, one person at a time.

* Since 2010, Designlab Miami has been offering classes to young and adults, to schools and individuals, and assisting numerous fashion projects.
 

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