TRUE SUSTAINABILITY WEAVING A FUTURE WITH ATLANTA'S RE:LOOM

While on vacation to North Carolina's Outer Banks, Lisa Wise had an epiphany. Her organization provided safe, well-maintained apartments for homeless and low-income families in the Atlanta area, but the people it served needed more. They needed jobs—and what Lisa saw in an Outer Banks boutique led her to develop a weaving-centric employment initiative that's been going strong since 2011, changing the lives of families and breaking the cycle of poverty for future generations. They say the best ideas come about when our minds are at rest, so Lisa's vacation must have been relaxing indeed.

Deborah Held

TRUE SUSTAINABILITY IT ALL BEGAN WITH HOUSING The Initiative for Affordable Housing (IAH) is a nonprofit organization that provides housing to unhoused and low-income adults in Decatur, Georgia. IAH was founded in 1990 by two Presbyterian churches with the mission of providing affordable housing in the Atlanta area. Lisa, who'd been working as a social worker for Georgia's Department of Human Services, was hired as the initiative's executive director. The group bought and restored properties, and it offered those safe, respectable, and well-maintained apartments to income-eligible residents. One thing became clear a few years into Lisa's tenure: those who are without stable housing also have trouble in gaining and maintaining meaningful employment. Not only is it difficult to land a job without the security of a roof overhead, a bed…

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Little Looms (Digital) - 1 Issue, Spring 2025

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