women helping women

From the B. and A. Smith collection




my friend Allegra sent a call out for support of this company, Lulan.com, in their hopes to enter into the top 25 contenders for American Express's funding to support companies trying to make a difference in the world. read more about it:

"American Express is currently offering $2.5 million dollars in funding to support innovative ideas that make a difference in the world. They will be selecting 5 'Members Projects' for funding. My company, Lulan Artisans (http://www.lulan.com/) has partnered with Architecture for Humanity to expand our weaving centers and we are excited to be number 32 out of 1190 projects! We need to be in the top 25 and we have only 5 days left to do so. If interested, mentioning us on your blog would definitely push us over the top!In many parts of Southeast Asia young women are left with few options in gaining employment. Unfortunately thousands, some as young as 12, are trafficked and lost into the sex trade every year. Lulan Artisans is a social venture that creates an alliance between textile designers and gifted artisans from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and India to produce hand-woven fabrics. We currently support over 650 weavers, spinners, dyers and finishers to produce these high-quality textiles. Lulan is ready to expand, reach our goal of over 6,000 artisans and build innovative weaving centers whose profits will support these artisans but also provide health care and schooling for their children.Architecture for Humanity and its designers will provide innovative off-the-grid weaving that respects tradition but represents anew way forward. Building designs will be shared openly with anyone wanting to replicate them through Creative Commons licensing on the Open Architecture Network. This way innovation is shared and more communities can benefit."I think this is a great project and would appreciate it if you could help put it in the top 25 so that they can get funding for it. If so, please do the following:

1) Click on this link to go to our project
2) Click the Nominate this Project button in the center of the page
3) Follow the directions to either log in as an American Express cardmember, or sign up as a guest member
4) You will be directed back to the project, at which point you should be able to click the Nominate this Project button again
5) Click on the discuss button and tell the jury about how the collaboration between AFH and Lulan will help create huge change.

if you'd like to post this on your blog, just copy and paste and viola! help spread the word.