Open Arms Studio

Open Arms Studio is a social enterprise of the Multicultural Refugee Coalition whose mission is to provide livelihood opportunities for refugees through skills based education and social entrepreneurship.

Provide fair-wage work for refugee women.
Committed to paying workers a fair wage and abiding by national environmental and safety requirements.
Make decisions that allow our staff to fit their jobs in with their family commitments, rather than choose one over the other.
Minimize shipping costs and the related environmental impact of long-distance shipping.

In addition to dignified, fair-wage employment, Open Arms offers paid learning opportunities during the workday  including English as Second Language (ESL) instruction, with future plans to offer financial and digital literacy classes.
We participate in sustainable practices and support several partners with zero-waste initiatives, including upcycling and natural dye.

We currently employ 15 refugee women, 1 immigrant woman, 1 asylee woman.
Paid hours of work by refugee staff 13,523 hours in 2018, 14,503 hours in 2019

Through a partnership with a local textile recycler, we recycle 36 tons of fabric each year. We are able to save an average of 9,000 shirts or clothing items from a landfill each week, making it around 468,000 a year.