Teaching Museum for the Fiber Arts and Textiles

A nonprofit organization

The Teaching Museum for the Fiber Arts and Textiles is sponsored by the Y.O.U.T.H. Program, Inc., a non-profit organization. The Museum provides inspirational, creative, and educational programming to our youth, boys/girls, adults, communities, and tourists. Our foremost priority is to engage youth and adults in fiber arts and textiles while teaching its history through hands-on activities, events, classes, and workshops. As instructors, we aim to present opportunities and classes to children and adults so that they can learn the handmade crafts that formed our culture and have historical value. We deliver these values through hands-on activity stations in our Museum for visitors, such as weaving, felting, sewing, knitting, and crocheting.

The Museum was established in 2016 to provide more opportunities to youth participating in the Y.OU.T.H. Program. Opportunities to work with younger boys, girls, and adults through being a tourist attraction and working with our communities. Last year, we offered students a pilot program called "Educational Workforce Development" Program. This new program provided career-oriented positions in art, history, website and social media, graphic design, and landscaping. It also provided work ethics business mentors and allowed them time to use their natural talents. Students completed an application, were interviewed, and committed to a 10-hour week for ten weeks. We partnered this program with an agency through Career Link, which offered it to students 16 to 18.

This year, we are interested in promoting the same concept. However, we will be working independently. Since this is presented as an educational program for gaining experience in the workforce, we wish to extend the program to 14 to 17 years old and have more flexibility for hours and the length of time that the program runs. We will recruit more business involvement to give the students plenty of mentoring.

Our Give Local funds will help us recruit and implement the Educational Workforce Development Program. We talked to parents, community members, and business owners, and all agree that this program is most needed for students. We hope donors for Give Local will feel the same and help support our efforts.

In addition to our Museum, we are planning an event on October 12th & 13th, 2024, to promote the fiber arts and textiles.

Thank you for participating in Give Local York!