Purpose

Handwoven Youth facilitated a bilingual workshop in partnership with Providence Promise focused on mental wellness and emotional resilience for parents and caregivers. Rooted in community networks, the session offered practical frameworks and a toolbox of wellbeing strategies to help families navigate stress, ask for support, and approach complex situations with optimism.

Handwoven Youth partnered with Reimagining Migration to hold a leadership workshop for students from immigrant backgrounds, focused on building confidence, agency, and practical leadership skills. Through games, activities, and reflection exercises, students created action plans to bring positive change to their schools and communities. The workshop encouraged them to take initiative and lead with purpose.

Handwoven Youth partnered with Providence Promise to donate 100 literacy kits designed to ignite a love for reading in young learners. Each kit included books, tips for building reading routines, a guide to local libraries, a reading bingo sheet, and fun additions like pens, bookmarks, and stickers. The initiative fostered connection with local families and supported early literacy in the Providence community.

Students from Westborough High School’s Black Student Union took part in an immersive visit to Brown University hosted by Handwoven Youth. The student had a student panel with Brown’s BSU, a tour of the Ruth J. Simmons Center, and a mock Africana studies class with Professor Dr. Kim Gallon. They explored academic pathways and connected with mentors.

As part of Black History Month, Handwoven Youth led an impactful workshop at a high school in Massachusetts centered on the theme of Black joy: its power, presence, and importance in everyday life. Rather than focusing solely on struggle and resilience, the workshop invited students to explore how joy itself is an act of resistance and a vital part of Black identity and wellness.

During Black History Month, Handwoven Youth launched a fundraiser to support Lawrence High School, where 3,200 students have no access to a physical library. Since their library was repurposed into a testing center, their librarian has relied on a mobile cart to distribute books. Thanks to our community's generosity, we raised over $600, providing 42 books by Black authors to help bring reading resources back to students.

Middle school students participate in Threads of Change, a bilingual (Spanish and English) afterschool program exploring personal development, advocacy, and community engagement.

As part of our commitment to empowering young changemakers, this program provides students with the tools to navigate social issues, develop leadership skills, and use their voices for impact.

Community members, middle and high school students, and families from Providence Promise participated in a workshop titled "Creative Advocacy: Using your Passion Towards Leadership," part of our Visionary Skills & Empowered Leadership series.

Handwoven Youth contributed $400 toward the creation of a mobile library cart. This cart is filled with a diverse selection of books that reflect the cultural backgrounds of the students, including narratives in Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Arabic, among others.