The Sew What Initiative is a summer program based on the Southside of Chicago which fights against economic disparity, textile waste, and fast fashion by teaching high school students high-quality sewing and consignment skills. We fight for diverse student identities through a curriculum that focuses on community development and vocational literacy in order to help impoverished families become more self-sustaining and interconnected. Our students learn how to customize, alter and create clothes using thrifted, donated, and consigned items that they can use to help themselves as well as their families. We help students tap into their creativity while unpacking the gender stereotypes and norms often assigned to sewing. As two Black Male first-generation college students also from the Southside of Chicago, we started this program because we saw it as a valuable skill to have while in college where we often could not afford the luxuries our Ivy-League peers could. Even more, our passion for sewing came as a surprise to so many people when that should not have been the case. It gave us a space to express ourselves in ways we could not afford and we want that for the students of the next generation. Because of this, we created our summer program at our alma-mater all-boys high school, Urban Prep Charter Academy, in order to create more conversation for our community around ill-placed gender norms and perspectives.
This past year in June of 2020, we taught our students how to create face masks in lieu of the Covid-19 pandemic using clothes and fabrics donated from The Salvation Army and from our local community. This proved to be very successful as students were able to create face masks for their friends and local family members while also working on their own personal projects. This year we would love to take it a step further by not only continuing our clothing drive but also executing a photoshoot and fashion show for them as well. The clothing drive would be held at our base high school location (Urban Prep Charter Academy Englewood Campus) and students would work to create 500 masks over the summer. These masks will be donated to incoming high school students in the Fall of 2021. We would like to use PeerSpace Space For Change to host a fashion show that will celebrate students and rally the community at the end of the summer program. It will be a chance to showcase our student's projects and growth in front of their family, friends, and industry professionals in fashion and design. We hope that this experience will be a stepping stone for our students to pursue college and explore the arts through professional careers in the future. On the Southside of Chicago where only 65% of Black men graduate high school, we think this is will monumentally help students to value education and see the reward of hard work. Even as applicants, we are looking to be an example for our community in what is possible when we work together for a change.
Peerspace is on a mission to bring people together. We believe it is impossible to achieve that goal unless we also fight for equality and access to resources in the communities we serve.
Having a space to gather, create, and exchange ideas is an important part of any movement. In order to magnify voices that are often quieted, Peerspace will sponsor venues for people who challenge prejudice and fight for social justice and equality.
Each quarter, we will sponsor space for three projects that are relevant to our community. These projects can range from fundraisers and educational initiatives to art exhibits and photo series.
