Lynn program for Afghan refugees gets grant support from Meghan and Harry
Alocal nonprofit is getting some royal support. The New American Association of Massachusetts (NAAMA), which helps refugees and immigrants around the state, is one of several program partners highlighted in the recently published Impact Report by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Foundation. According to the report, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s philanthropic organization launched its Welcome Project earlier this year, which “supports women-led programming for recently resettled Afghan women to help build more inclusive and connected communities.”
As part of the Welcome Project, which supports 11 locations in the United States, the Archewell Foundation gave the NAAMA a grant in June 2023 for its Afghan Women Workshop, according to executive director Natasha Soolkin. The workshop, which launched in Lynn in November 2022, offers Afghan women a “social club”-like space where they can make friends, find child-care support, and foster community.
“Last year, we realized the families, especially women in the families, are very much isolated,” Soolkin told the Globe in a phone interview Thursday, noting how spouses in these situations are often stuck at home when the husbands start working.
The workshop brings together over 20 Afghan women from Lynn, Newburyport, and other parts of the state, enabling them to connect with each other and their communities, as well as hone long-held skills. Since many of the women had backgrounds in sewing, they started weaving works together on Sundays as part of the workshop thanks to donations of sewing machines, fabrics, and other materials.
“We thought it would be nice for them to have some kind of common project,” Soolkin said. “We knew that they were basically tailors by nature, because they were making clothes for themselves and their families since they were very young.”
Creating handcrafted clothes and souvenirs, the products made by the women are becoming popular items at craft shows, markets, and other events around Massachusetts. The success has turned the workshop into a job training program of sorts, with NAAMA embedding English language training as well.
The Afghan Women Workshop has also organized Welcome Dinners, supported by the Archewell Foundation grant. In the fall, dinners were hosted in Lynn and Newburyport, featuring meals prepared by the women, who used the event to celebrate with family and volunteers, as well as invite other Afghan women to join their community. According to Soolkin, the Archewell Foundation gave NAAMA $3,300 to support the Welcome Dinners, as well as $25,000 to help offer job training and teach the participants more about finances.
“This fund allows us to hire a financial coach to provide some financial literacy,” Soolkin said. “That’s what we’re doing right now, slowly introducing them, family by family, to aspects like budgeting, savings, and banking.”