"While living in a homeless shelter in San Francisco, Robinson learned about a Lafayette-based organization called the Social Justice Sewing Academy, and one of their landmark efforts, the Social Connection. The Social Justice Sewing Academy is much more than sewing machines and needlework. Founded in 2017 by then 18-year-old Sara Trail, the Academy focused on spurring and nurturing activism and youth engagement through sewing projects that included making quilt blocks banners with messages such as Stop Police Brutality."
"The academy has since grown beyond that and now provides free services to neurodivergent adults throughout the Bay Area. The programs offered through the Academy and the Social Connection are a patchwork quilt of opportunities. Sabira Williams, Social Connection's program director, says the inclusive programs provide help with individual living skills, and has a goal of helping people get jobs, if they want them and most do."
Thiago Robinson, a 20-year-old neurodivergent man from Alameda, found new opportunities after learning about the Social Justice Sewing Academy while living in a San Francisco homeless shelter. The Academy began in 2017 and used sewing projects to spur activism and youth engagement, including quilt-block banners reading Stop Police Brutality. The organization has expanded to provide free services to neurodivergent adults across the Bay Area. The Social Connection program delivers a patchwork of opportunities including individual living skills, job-readiness support, driver's license and computer courses, and public-transit training. Members gain meaningful friendships, practical skills, and pathways to community participation.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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