In conjunction with the 38th Annual Nonprofit Connect Awards Celebration, Alphapointe and Rightfully Sewn were named as the recipients of the “Stronger Together” Award for their collaboration efforts.
The Nonprofit Connect Awards Celebration (formerly the Philanthropy Awards Luncheon) honors individuals and organizations for their outstanding commitment to positive impact in Kansas City. Now in its 38th year, the Awards Celebration has honored over 200 nonprofit professionals and organizations and remains the oldest and largest celebration of nonprofit excellence in Kansas City.
Nonprofit Connect cited the organizations for their work together in the past two years, starting when the organizations officially partnered together in the fall of 2020. Nonprofit Connect’s citation reads:
The initial results of the Alphapointe-Rightfully Sewn partnership are nothing short of remarkable. Five years ago, Rightfully Sewn’s revenue was $67,000 – following the partnership with Alphapointe, it soared to more than $660,000 in fiscal year 2021 – an increase of nearly 900 percent. Prior to the partnership, Rightfully Sewn employed five full-time staff. At the outset of 2022, staffing had increased 500 percent to 30 team members. More than one-third of Rightfully Sewn employees are refugees who have fled other countries due to debilitating circumstances. Leveraging Alphapointe’s industry contacts, Rightfully Sewn secured a contract to produce 3,000 high quality dress shirts every month for members of the U.S. military on behalf of Marlow White Uniforms, a company known for its impeccable quality that’s been in existence since 1879. To accommodate the contract, monthly production at Rightfully Sewn has more than quadrupled. The influx in production led to securing new/state-of-the-art equipment, which is used for both production and for Rightfully Sewn’s Seamstress Training Program. Harkening back to Rightfully Sewn’s mission of providing employment to disadvantaged individuals, within the past year, the organization has trained and hired four refugees who fled Afghanistan after the country fell. An additional six refugees have already applied to Rightfully Sewn’s next edition of its Seamstress Training Program, which begins on March 8. In time, Alphapointe and Rightfully Sewn will collaborate to create a training program specifically for people who are blind, which will help to reduce the catastrophic unemployment rate for people with low vision. Alone, Alphapointe provides rehabilitation services and employment to more than 3,000 people who are blind from around the nation every year. Alone, Rightfully Sewn provided hands-on training to disadvantaged people and employment opportunities for scores of people. Together, these non-profit organizations have collaborated to expand their impact and provide life-changing services to people.
The organization’s will officially be honored at the Celebration event on May 18.