By Dana Pair
How do we equip our Adorned in Grace Design Studio girls to continue making positive choices and succeed beyond their high school graduation?
As our girls all continue to grow up and transition into the next phase of life, this question has become increasingly important in our minds to think through how we can best expand our Design Studio programs.
If you are unfamiliar with our Design Studio, our traditional workshop model focuses on trafficking prevention by creating a safe space for high risk girls through mentorship, homework help, life skills, and design. This helps to create a support system of healthy adult relationships, encourage education and success, and provide a creative outlet to process life challenges and express themselves. All of this coupled with teachings on trafficking red flags and healthy relationships help prepare our Design Studio girls to make healthier decisions and empower them to become advocates against trafficking in their community.
“The more I learned about Adorned in Grace and the justice work they are doing in Portland, the clearer it became that this would be the perfect fit for my business partnership. I want to make a difference in women’s lives and share the gifts that God has blessed me with. It’s such an honor to teach to the girls at the Design Studio…”
In thinking through the challenge of how we could best come alongside our older girls as they start looking towards adulthood, a long-term dream of Adorned in Grace reemerged: a youth entrepreneurship workshop that would help to teach foundational job skills. A few years ago, God placed it on the heart of local jewelry designer Kristina Fordyce to teach jewelry making to young ladies.
She says, “At that point I hadn’t built my jewelry studio or my business Kardia of Gold, and I wasn’t sure how God wanted me follow through on His prompting. I knew I wanted to build my business for God’s Kingdom and not for my own gain, so I began to pray for an organization to partner with, an organization who is on a mission to help women better their lives and to help fight for their worth. God lead me right to Adorned in Grace.
The more I learned about Adorned in Grace and the justice work they are doing in Portland, the clearer it became that this would be the perfect fit for my business partnership. I want to make a difference in women’s lives and share the gifts that God has blessed me with. It’s such an honor to teach to the girls at the Design Studio: I walk away each week feeling so blessed to get to know these girls more and more!” We are so excited to have Kristina on board to teach and design a bridal line of jewelry that will be sold at our Adorned in Grace Bridal Shops!
Many basics skills such as filling out a job application or resume writing are new territory for our girls who need dedicated adults who are willing to walk through these new journeys with them. Through this program, we will continue with many of the elements that make our traditional workshops so successful like mentorship and homework help; however, it also provides the opportunity to take things a step further by challenging our girls to think through their own life goals and help them determine how to get them there. By seeing themselves creating these beautiful pieces, it also helps to build self-esteem as they see that they have the ability to create which can give them a greater sense of purpose.
Interested in how you can support these young women? $35 provides one girl with all of the tools that she needs to make beautiful jewelry. $60 per month will help sponsor an educational stipend for 1 girl! Learn more about donating here.
In addition, you can shop the girls’ bridal jewelry line here!
