Sweat Equity Enterprises (SEE), a three-year-old Manhattan nonprofit that partners professional designers with low-income students in New York and Rhode Island, is the brainchild of fashion magnate Marc Ecko and SEE executive director Nell Daniel. Daniel, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, came up with the idea of engaging urban youth in designing products for corporate clients who pay for the opportunity to learn more about the tastes of this hard to reach urban teen demographic. Designers and marketers also benefit from the insights and ideas that spring from the minds of fashion-forward babes.
Students meet three times a week after school and are each paid a stipend of $2,600 for their participation. In addition to their stipend, SEE students whose products actually make it to market earn royalties that are deposited into a college fund set up for each of them.
Marc Ecko and his Ecko clothing company provide SEE with money, equipment and space in Ecko’s Manhattan headquarters. But, Ecko is not alone in his enthusiasm for the organization, Radio Shack, a repeat client, enlisted SEE’s help designing promotions and products. They were so thrilled with the collaboration that Radio Shack donated $100,000 to SEE. Deutsche Bank, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Ecko and other corporate partners have helped SEE raise nearly $500,000 and serve 150 kids.
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