Declaration: Colors of Love on Haight is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization (FEIN: 88-1621049) Gifts to Colors of Love are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the law. Please consult your tax advisor for further information.
On March 15, 2022, exactly 2 years to the date that Love on Haight announced we would be closing for the Coronavirus Pandemic, Love on Haight signed a lease at 854 Stanyan Street about 10 blocks away from Love on Haight. The building belongs to and houses the offices of Dr. David Smith ~ the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic and much more, as well as the person who Sunshine's Dog is named after...it seems fitting.
Colors of Love was inspired by a lot of things...our need to do something positive in our community, the fact that one of Sunshine's best friends had a sister that until recently spent over 13 years in a prison in the state of Georgia and it was NOT okay, and then there was the death of George Floyd. At a time when we as a country needed strength, we witnessed a man being murdered. As a company, as individuals, we were suffocated in our privilege and we NEEDED to do something.
It so happens that Sunshine's husband works with state & local governments creating Prisoner Reentry assistance networks of care. (He actually also works with the foster care system, domestic violence, homelessness, veterans and mental Health. Thank you Afshin for helping be part of the Solution, we love and appreciate you!). Afshin let Sunshine know that actually, women prisoners have the least amount of programs available for them as they get out of prison, the highest recidivism rate, most are heads of household and over 70% are African American. And so began the ideal of Colors of Love....
It started with a cut and sew idea, because 60% of women prisoners cut and sew as their job in prison...but we are not there yet, but trust us...that is part of the manifestation...we really want to bring cut and sew programs to places like Detroit that a living wage can really CHANGE SOMEONE'S LIFE.
But to start, we decided to go with what we know best: Tiedye!
We reached out to some of our Artists, flew a few out and came to an agreement with Ravan Alexandra who was living in Colorado and had just graduated with an MBA. We moved her out here in April of 2022 and finished construction on Colors of Love and started our dream.
Colors of Love will be broken down into several parts:
1: A Tie Dye Education Training Center. We will be teaching tiedye classes, tie dye parties, and doing tiedye team building classes in our front room of Colors. This will also integrate with our Artist Residency Program, where we fly out one of our Artists a month ot have them tiedye with us, teach a class and get to know our amazing team and city!
2: A Women's Prisoner Reentry Tiedye Program where we take 1-3 women for a 9 month program and teach them the art of tie dyeing as well as the business behind it. After the women complete the program they will have the option of becoming one of our full time artists or we will give them the tools to start their own tie dyeing business.
3: A wholesale business. Our program will be funded by our wholesale clients who choose to support truly "feel good" tiedye made by Ravan and the women in our program.
4: Love on Haight will be/is renting space from Colors of Love to house our Online store and also have a retail location/ pick up spot for our Online Store and needs.
Love on Haight is grateful to be able to spread rainbows to EVERYONE.
Art is Therapy and Rainbows do make people smile...and we all deserve a chance to SMILE and be LOVED.