CIS: Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (Center of Exchange and Solidarity)

"There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish."  
--Michelle Obama

In 2013 Kelly Ann Brown Foundation gave a grant to CIS, a nonprofit in El Salvador, to help purchase a building on Isla Tasajera to be used as a women’s sewing cooperative.  KABF gave money for school scholarships for women and children on the island as well. The women there are often the sole bread-winners for themselves and their children.  
 
Last November CIS Executive Director Leslie Schuld shared exciting news:
“There has been much progress in the women's development. First of all, two of the women in the cooperative benefited with the scholarship money you gave. Sonia and Carmen Elena will graduate from high school in March 2016. Second, the women's center is beautiful and improving little by little. They were able to put a security fence around it as well as purchase the building with the funds you provided. A delegation came and painted the center. And a group of Salvadorans in Los Angeles donated materials for the roof. The women are in the process of forming a legal cooperative so they can expand their business. They continue to grow and develop new designs and experience. Last year they learned to repair sewing machines. This year they received a course in design and developed a logo at the CIS.”

KABF gave CIS a third grant in 2015 to finish repairs needed on the co-op building, ensuring the women have a simple but stable and secure center, including a repaired roof, a new tile floor, secure doors and bars on the windows to prevent theft and some new ceiling fans.  
 
We are proud to learn that, according to Ms. Schuld, "these women are on their way to independence as they have shown they can run a business, sell, and consolidate their cooperative.”

Click here to learn more about CIS.