Fabric of Life is the DBA of Schillios Development Foundation,
dedicated to cooperative partnerships that improve people's
access to:

The Fabric of Life Foundation established the Hèrè jè Center in 2002 to help begging girl-children (ages 10-25) break the cycle of begging, create a business and become self-sustaining. This program combines lifeline services with micro savings and credit to help the poorest of the poor street children go from begging to business in 18 months. Lifeline services stabilize food and shelter so begging girls can learn micro-entrepreneurial skills that generate income.

Our goal is to reach girls before they are forced into prostitution because of extreme need (hunger).  The girls immediately receive a stipend to stabilize their food needs ($20 a week) and pay for transportation to the center.  This stipend ensures they do not have to beg during training. 

The training program is 18 months.  These young women go from beggars to businesswomen by learning skills that generate income.  By partnering with a local micro-credit institution, by the end of the training, each Hèrè jè Center graduate has a savings account with U.S.$150. This qualifies the young women for a loan if they choose to go into business for themselves.

Along with income generating skills (sewing, weaving, beading, dyeing fabrics and product development), Hèrè jè Center takes a holistic approach to development and includes health and nutrition, AIDs prevention, business and project management skills, and literacy basics.

The first group of 10 girls graduated July 2006 and now move to Phase II: entrepreneurship. During this phase, their monthly stipend decreases and product sales begin supplementing their income. Because the young women are owners in the cooperative they are paid a fair wage and share in the profits from their sales.

During 2007 Fabric of Life Foundation volunteers and staff are strenthening distribution chains and will partner with government and non-profit agencies already working with developing countries on supply chains.  These product distribution networks will generate the revenue to create a self-sustaining training center.

We have initiated a capital campaign to raise $2,500,000 to build a permanent facility for the Hèrè jè Center in Mali  At project completion, the 3-story building will house all three phases of the training and will generate enough income to not only sustain itself but to produce enough for the Malians to take beggars off the streets themselves with little outside help. on land we have already acquired.

OUR MISSION

To create economic independence for families in developing countries through cooperative development projects.

OUR VISION

To improve the quality of life for women and their families in developing countries through cooperative, sustainable, appropriate development projects that respect and honor local traditions and cultures.  To develop a distribution network that generates income to sustain and further the projects.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We believe in forming cooperative partnerships that promote self-help and that build people’s self-esteem and independence.

We believe people know their own needs. We believe that with encouragement, learning, strategic experimentation, and partnership exchanges, people have the capacity to help themselves.

We support partnerships that focus on the cooperative principles of self help, building financial stability, education, non-discrimination, social responsibility and cooperation.