Apparent Project is a 501(c)3 nonprofit artisans’ guild that was co-founded by Shelley Clay, Marilyn Monaghan (current CEO), and Corrigan Clay in 2008. Haitians of Apparent Project create stunning bracelets, jewelry, clothing, and beautiful art pieces made out of trash, metal, aluminum, dirt, and paper by the mothers and fathers of once orphaned children of Haiti. Currently The Apparent Projects artisans include metal sculptors, jewelry makers, paper makers, bookbinders, seamstresses, and ceramicists. They are looking to expand into new artistic ventures and love hosting small teams for intensive trainings.They produce jobs for mothers and fathers who don’t want to have to abandon their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. They provide hope through the dignity of a job, training, and the ability to create something new out of something discarded and seemingly unusable. Apparent Project is a socially and ecologically conscious business with a mission of stimulating the Haitian economy and bringing an end to poverty-based relinquishment of children in Haiti.
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Apparent Project is the business incubator for start-up businesses that help aid in the economic situation of families in Haiti. Apparent Project also does community development, education, job skills training, medical relief, prenatal care, and continues to market and promote Papillon goods as well as other Haitian artisan goods through its party sales and fundraisers. While redeeming the Haitian landscape, these artisans are also bringing new hope to their families, employing themselves for a brighter future and earning the means to pay for their children’s food, shelter, and education. Apparent Project’s goal is to see Haitian families stay together. Skill development and employment addresses the needs of families before they are at the point of desperation, driven to give their children to an orphanage because of extreme poverty. They see their artisans’ guild as an “un-orphanage.” They are finding creative ways for Haitians to be self-employed so that they can take care of their own children with dignity and joy.
Location
Rue Cassagnol Prolongee #14 Delmas 75, Port-au-Prince Haiti 3194-1267.
Background
Shelley Clay is the founder and director of the Apparent Project. She is a social entrepreneur and mother of four. Two of her kids are adopted from Haiti where she resides full-time with her family. In 2008, Shelley moved to Port-au-Prince and went to work in an orphanage. From the success of the Apparent Project, was birthed a social business, "Papillon Enterprise", which translates those new creative skills into sustainable jobs While starting Papillon Enterprise as a nonprofit, Shelley Clay used grants—including one from the Clinton Foundation that helped expand her present facilities in Pétion-Ville, Port-au-Prince—to leverage what's become a for-profit business. At the end of 2010 they sold $100,000 in jewelry, through their nonprofit overseas exchange, Apparent Project. In 2013, Apparent Project's Papillon Enterprise had an estimated $1 million in sales. In that time the company has grown from 40 workers to about 300 plus in 2016. Many of them Clay hired as she visited orphanages and then tent cities following the earthquake of 2010. Her desire is to see the issues of poverty tackled through sustainable economic empowerment of the poor. The Apparent Project exists to give job skills to heads of households and particularly mothers in order to prevent child relinquishment.
Papillon Enterprise
In 2009, Apparent Project was no longer under the radar and had to formalize as a business in Haiti. This business was called Papillon Enterprise. Papillon became the legal production center for all things Apparent Project. Papillon’s establishment allowed the artisans to keep working legally, and allowed many more employees to be hired. Apparent Project was the distributor of things made by Papillon.
Wages
Minimum wage in Haiti is $5 per day and the average person makes $2 per day. Employees of The Apparent Project make $15 per day plus medical coverage. Her employees also now include 30 inmates who are rolling beads for two hours a day and getting paid for it. “It’s huge,” Shelley Clay said, “because in Haiti you can’t go to trial without money.” She hopes to expand job opportunities in prisons, including a nearby women’s prison.
Partnerships
The Apparent Project partners with smaller nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based nonprofits like The Global Orphan Project. In spring 2016, the Global Orphan Project (GO) carried necklaces and bracelets made by Apparent Project through its GO Exchange, which sells locally made clothing and accessories from Haiti, Uganda, and Ethiopia. They also have partnerships with stores like Gap and designers like Donna Karan, who make bulk orders Kim Kardashian, Maria Bello, Patricia Arquette, Olivia Wilde, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Clinton are supporters of Apparent Project along with many others.
Clinton Foundation's Support
On July 29, 2015, Clinton Foundation President Donna Shalala, Chelsea Clinton, and Clinton Foundation supporters visited The Apparent Project. With support from the Clinton Foundation, they reached new buyers, leading to larger market access, and ultimately allowing them to create jobs while providing healthcare and on-site day care for all of its 300 workers. In 2013, the Clinton Foundation provided a grant to Papillon Enterprise. The grant covered a building, more Haitian staff, and supplies. Through a Clinton Foundation investment, Papillion Enterprise was able to purchase kilns and other resources that allowed them to produce clay beads and other ceramic products. The kilns require significant energy and were increasing costs, so through a partnership they were able to provide a roof-top solar system to power them, and most of the operations, with renewable energy.