Art work by JamMaster Mark Valdez @markmywordslettering
Dear CraftJam Community,
We hope this finds you healthy and safe.
You might have seen our recent announcement in our last newsletter and on social media in solidarity with the protests and our action to give 10% of our sales this week to the Black Art Futures Fund. We are able to do this because of the amazing CraftJam team and our talented and caring JamMasters who helped with advice and suggestions. I’m grateful to work with these inspiring individuals.
We’d like to do more on a regular basis and would like to get your input on what CraftJam can do best and take action to help African-Americans and to show that Black Lives Matter.
I’d also like to share with you what we’ve been doing so far. I come from a tradition where you do things and help people less fortunate, but don’t talk about it. And I realized this is actually counter-productive since we should show what we stand for and also need to serve as a role model. So, here we go. Personally I’ve been a volunteer and have donated for the past seven years to The Door, a fabulous organization in NYC that was established “to empower young people to reach their potential by providing comprehensive youth development services in a diverse and caring environment.” The Door helps mostly black youth with a holistic mix of free services including health care, education, legal representation, warm meals, counseling, finding shelter, creative activities and more. I’ve connected friends to The Door who in return spoke there, invited young adults to company tours, helped them with photography and video skills and more. I joined the board a few years ago as well. Kollabora as well CraftJam have donated, hired interns and freelancers and I personally mentor and support a young woman who was introduced to me by The Door.
I admit it’s not easy for me to express how I feel and to figure out what I and the company do publicly. I’m a non-native speaker who didn’t grow up in the US. I understand that race relations here are very complicated and can’t be compared to what I experienced growing up as German-Egyptian in Germany. There is a lot I have to learn and I hope you’ll help.
Please send any feedback you may have to hello@craftjam.co.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards, Nora
