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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - November 25, 2008
Lynne Williamson Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
November 25, 2008

Torrington, Connecticut Resident Wins Cash Award To Support Entreprenuerial Program For Refugee Women


(New York, NY, November 25, 2008) - Torrington, Connecticut resident Lynne Williamson, 57, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Lynne was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the first recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award in Connecticut since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by a panel of judges that includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Lynne will use her award to support the Refugee Arts Sewing Circle, a project to help refugee and immigrant women in the Hartford, CT area establish home-based crafts businesses.

It is estimated that in Greater Hartford, CT there are nearly 100 different ethnic groups residing in the area with 50 languages spoken aside from English. Refugees from Liberia, Somalia, Bantu, Assyrians from Iran and Burma, and several other countries create, ten percent of the city’s population. In addition, approximately 700 Bosnian war widows live in the area, and many of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a variety of other emotional and social challenges. Often, these immigrant and refugee women speak little or no English when they arrive to the United States, making cultural adjustment and social interaction outside of their own ethnic group difficult. For this reason, they lack a voice in the community, and in some cases aren’t able to alleviate issues of conflict or prejudice that they face.

Since September of 2007, Lynne has facilitated a monthly sewing circle for women of all nationalities, during which the participants work on their traditional folk arts, share stories and trade materials. “I believe that maintaining cultural traditions ensures health and well-being for the [refugee and immigrant] women and their families,” says Lynne. Through her time with these women, Lynne recognized their obvious creative talents and saw an opportunity to help them turn crafts into a money making venture. She feels that although many of the women have highly developed arts skills, such as weaving and needlework, they lack the resources to pursue their crafts as a profession. Lynne’s work as an art museum curator and folklorist combined with her global travel experience has helped her develop this project further, but she has yearned to have the funds to support the women as they get their businesses off the ground. That is where the Hello Tomorrow Fund can help.

Thanks to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, the Refugee Arts Sewing Circle will offer monthly workshops in small business practices to refugee and immigrant women in the community. Held at the Hartford Public Library in collaboration with the Institute for Community Research, the sessions will be led by experienced small business, entrepreneurial, and workforce development trainers. Topics will cover licensing and regulations, locating supplies and materials, creating business plans, banking and basic finance, inventory and record-keeping, promotional methods, identifying and approaching sales venues, and commissions. From there, artists who show potential for business growth will receive seed funding for materials, supplies, business cards and promotional brochures. Along with other members, Lynne will mentor participants as they begin their businesses, accompany them to markets and craft fairs, as well as assist the artists in setting up Web sites where they can sell their products. With the help of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, it will be possible for Lynne to provide start-up support to the women who have completed their training, thus enabling them to maintain their cultural heritages while at the same time integrating into American society.

Lynne’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “Providing seed funding for promising cultural entrepreneurs among this vibrant community of refugee women is a wonderfully innovative part of this proposal,” commented judge Anne Dowling.

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