Artisans for Hope is a local nonprofit organization here in Boise that offers refugees a place to find community and connections through craft-making.
The organization hosted a grand opening event for their new location on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at 1615 W. State St.
Artisans For Hope offers a variety of sewing and knitting classes to refugees free of cost, providing a sense of community and an opportunity to make connections with other refugees.
Fran Caprai, executive director of Artisans for Hope, said that the skills learned in the classes really end up being the least important part of the program. What's really important is the communal camaraderie.
“What's important is … sometimes the refugees come in, and they're terrified just to be out in the community, they've been traumatized,” Caprai said. “So to watch them come in on that first day, and they're so quiet, and they're so afraid. And by, you know, their second or third time coming to class, they're chatting with the people that sit beside them.”
Artisans For Hope fosters a welcoming, tight ‘knit’ community for refugees seeking community, regardless of their nationality.
“We encourage them to connect with not only their peers during the classes, but other refugees from other countries. So it really is truly a mixing bowl of people, personalities, nationalities and origins,” Caprai said.
The organization’s mission is to help refugees “connect, learn, create, and earn.” Artisans For Hope is volunteer based and operates via donations and from funding generated by selling handmade items at their gift shop.
“We're very, very dependent on the generosity of donors in the valley,” Caprai said. “We don't charge our artisans anything — for the lessons, for their sewing machine, and equipment that they use, or for the fabric that they use to manufacture the things that we sell in the gift shop. All of those items come in as donations.”
In addition to a variety of handmade items from pillowcases to potholders, the organization also offers clothing alteration services. The artisans receive 60% of the profits of the items they make, and the rest goes directly back into the organization.
