Neighborhood News October 2022 |
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TiAsia spends her days honing her design craft and making plans for a career in the fashion industry. But connecting with this passion wasn’t always easy. Growing up in the Bronx, one of TiAsia’s favorite things to do was sketch clothing designs. She dreamed about a career as a fashion designer, but she didn’t have access to the resources at home or at school and eventually gave up on it.
TiAsia was working as a home health aide when she moved into Louis Nine House (LNH), our residence in the Bronx designed for young adults who have experienced homelessness or aged out of foster care.
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TiAsia walking the runway at graduation |
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She left her job at the start of the pandemic because of health and safety concerns—and soon, fashion started to work its way back into her life.
“Fashion crept up on me again when I got dressed on my birthday. I styled myself… and it just sparked something in me.”
TiAsia started sketching again and hoping to work in the fashion industry, a dream she hadn’t thought about since she was much younger. She showed some of her sketches to the staff at Options, NCS’s vocational, education, and employment program, hoping they would know of a program to help her grow her design skills. Elaine, a Vocational Specialist at Options, connected TiAsia with Custom Collaborative, an entrepreneurship and workforce development organization that trains, mentors, and advocates for and with low- to no-income and immigrant women. She enrolled in their Training Institute, a fourteen-week program that teaches the art, technique, and business of fashion design.
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TiAsia speaking at her graduation ceremony |
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“We learned a lot of things, from pattern making, sewing, drafting, everything. It was very challenging, but I also felt at home the whole time.” TiAsia completed the program this summer, and participated in the graduation fashion show.
Custom Collaborative may have challenged TiAsia, but she also had many achievements in the program. She was so successful, in fact, that her class selected her to speak at their graduation!
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TiAsia’s past has not always been easy, but through her hard work, dedication, and self-reflection, she looks forward to her future. She hopes to earn her GED, go to college for fashion design, and use that education to start her own clothing line.
“I’m very, very proud of myself. I never thought I would be able to feel this way,” TiAsia shared. “I can’t believe that I know how to sew. I remember I didn’t know anything about sewing, and now I know how to sew. I know how to make clothes from scratch.”
We’re also proud of TiAsia, and we can’t wait to see what she does next!
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All over New York City, there are programs designed to help our neighbors, offering food, mental health counseling, warm clothes, showers, and more. NCS staff members realized that not everyone who could benefit from these services knew where to find them. We wanted to change that and decided to start in our own backyard. |
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For many years, NCS Street Sheets have been a familiar site on the Upper East Side. These pocket-sized guides are full of information about neighborhood resources, including meal programs, substance-use treatment programs, free clinics, drop-in centers, legal assistance hotlines, and more. Street Sheets are distributed at these community-based organizations as well as at libraries, police precincts, hospitals, and by people in their own communities.
Originally, Street Sheets focused on the Upper East Side, where NCS first started. Several years ago, we began expanding Street Sheets by printing guides for the Upper West Side and Midtown, as well as introducing a Spanish edition.
We are excited to announce a new Street Sheet neighborhood in 2022: Downtown Manhattan! These guides to resources available in Lower Manhattan are available in both English and Spanish. Thank you to the volunteers who packaged thousands of Street Sheets for all four neighborhoods and shipped them to community partners, and to New York City Councilmember Christopher Marte for generously supporting Downtown Street Sheets!
If you would like to carry these small, pocket-sized guides to give out to people in need in your neighborhood or neighborhoods you pass through, please contact Edie Weinhardt at eweinhardt@ncsinc.org or 212-537-5141.
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Administrative Office
50 Broadway
Suite 1301
New York, NY 10004
Phone: (212) 537-5100
Fax: (212) 860-2301
ncs@ncsinc.org
www.ncsinc.org
Board of Directors
David A. Oliver
President
Wolcott B. Dunham, Jr.
Stephanie W. Guest
Thomas J. Kilkenny
Stuart N. Siegel
Vice Presidents
Susan Stevens
Treasurer
Jan F. Golann
Secretary
Victoria Bert
Anne S. Davidson
Abigail Black Elbaum
Matthew D. Hughes
Oren K. Isacoff
Ann Ross Loeb
Rachael Piltch-Loeb
Susan Shevell
Stephanie Shuman
Christopher W. Solomon
Eva Suarez
Ann L. Shalof
Chief Executive Officer
NCS Programs
Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter provides New Yorkers who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with a home, a community, and access to the services that they need to thrive. We create innovative solutions and engage community partners to provide housing and support that can transform lives.
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