planning, peer-to-peer emotional support, adult education, and the path to college program. SCC also holds ongoing workshops about communication and respect and holds team members accountable to self-identified goals for their future.
And while providing these important social impact programs is key to SCC’s mission, Matteucci never loses site of the fact that her business is market driven. A steady and consistent stream of clients is required to keep her business and social programs growing. She is determined in her search for new business opportunities – attending trade shows, networking, and mentoring local and national startup companies. After 29 years in business, SCC’s extensive client list affords it broad exposure to many companies big and small. In fact, a few years ago SCC was asked by West Elm – a division of Williams Sonoma Inc. – to submit a proposal for its Zero Waste program, a program aimed at upcycling the company’s extensive inventory of left-over upholstery fabric. SCC submitted a proposal to design, sew, and ship pillows for West Elm. Being on the receiving end of hundreds of yards of fabric languishing in the West Elm warehouse was no easy feat, but Matteucci and her fine team of seamstresses and logistics experts pulled it off. This is but one example of the variety of projects Matteucci and her team work on throughout the year.
When I asked Matteucci what was one of the more unusual and or difficult projects SCC took on and completed, she laughed and said, “Well there have been quite a few, but one of our
most unusual and international projects was
one that involved cutting up and sewing Pendleton blankets to make doggie “vestidos,” or coats, that were then shipped to Japan. What an ethnographic mash up that was: Mexican
immigrants sewing coats made out of
American Indian trade blankets for dogs in Japan!”
Southwest Creations Collaborative offers a model that can be taken to scale, whether by a social enterprise or a traditional for-profit business. Its approach to leadership development, production management, and creating a family-friendly workplace transfers beyond mission-based organizations.
Bill Woldman, former field representative for now retired Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), appreciates the benefits of Southwest Creations Collaborative’s comprehensive approach that involves an income stream. “It would take some innovation,” Woldman says, “but . . . a lot of different businesses could take this model and make it grow.”
More businesses like Southwest Creations Collaborative could mean more opportunities for disadvantaged women to earn a living, develop as leaders, and chart their own pathway forward to improve the lives of their children by creating wealth for their families.
We at dig.ni.fy are proud to feature their good work and invite you to learn more about Southwest Creations Collaborative.
(Click Here)
Visit: https://www.southwestcreations.com/
What we do is not rocket science, but it is intentional. Every day we focus on work with dignity, and this manifests in great customer service that brings in more work that creates more jobs with dignity for our communities.
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