Invest in Women. Improve the World. It's that simple. Vital Voices searches the world for emerging women leaders with exceptional visions for change. We partner with them to make their visions a reality. Through individualized support, mentorship, leadership training, and network-building, Vital Voices has worked with over 14,000 women leaders in 144 countries to address the world's most pressing issues. These are the women on the frontlines of change working to strengthen democracy, increase economic opportunity, and protect human rights in communities around the world. Our International Women's Day Campaign As the spotlight turns toward the world's women on International Women's Day (March 8th) and throughout the month of March, Vital Voices is calling out to the Indiegogo Community - both women AND men - to invest in our network of women leaders as they pay it forward in their communities. Please make a gift today and invest in women's leadership around the world. Funds raised through the Indiegogo Campaign will support our global network of women leaders and help us find other women leading change in their communities. How YOU Can Help Make a gift to our International Women's Day Campaign to support women leaders and the change-makers of tomorrow! Join our Campaign Team and encourage your friends and family to invest in women leaders everywhere. Share your story! Tweet us @VitalVoices and tell us why you #InvestInWomen. Follow our Indiegogo campaign throughout the month and receive updates and new perks...and see the global impact of your gift as you "pay it forward." Stay tuned for personal stories of women in Vital Voices' global network... CHECK OUT THE STORY OF PANMELA CASTRO IN THE UPDATES SECTION. As a young woman interested in art, Panmela Castro was drawn to graffiti and its power to convey a message. Living in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro as a young woman, Panmela became immersed in the city’s dynamic art scene and began to establish her reputation as a graffiti artist. Also known by her graffiti name, Anarkia, she fully embraces the transformative power of art, using her work to raise awareness about women’s rights and to draw attention to the pervasiveness of gender-based violence. CHECK OUT THE STORY OF DR. HAWA ABDI IN THE UPDATES SECTION. In 1983, Dr. Hawa Abdi opened the Rural Health Development Organisation, a one-room clinic near Mogadishu, Somalia on farmland that her family owned, and persuaded nomadic women to let her help deliver their babies. Today, Dr. Hawa provides safety and healthcare to over 90,000 internally displaced persons in her native Somalia. Vital Voices invests in Dr. Hawa as she reinvests in the vibrant community she safeguards every day. CHECK OUT THE STORY OF TEP VANNY IN THE UPDATES SECTION. Tep Vanny is a leader in Cambodia, fighting for land rights in her community for families whose lands have been forcibly and illegally confiscated. Vital Voices invests in Vanny's commitment to justice for all and being a voice of the voiceless. CHECK OUT THE STORY OF SUNITHA KRISHNAN IN THE UPDATES SECTION. Sunitha Krishnan is the co-founder of Prajwala(Eternal Flame),a group that rescues women and children from brothels and provides quality education to the children of prostitutes. Vital Voices invests in Sunitha’s commitment to a world free of exploitation.

Short Summary Please consider donating to Dream House – to help residents of the shelter with child care, legal fees, counseling, and medical expenses so that they can get back on their feet faster. The high cost of childcare impacts all the residents of Dream House and makes it difficult for them to work towards achieving their goals to become self-sufficient. Your gift will go a long way in helping to cover these essential expenses as they go back to school, enter the workforce, and strive for financial and emotional independence from their abusers. Who We Are Since 1995 Dream House has provided a safe haven for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking as they make a new start for themselves and their children in the Bay Area. The Dream Team is a group of 26 women who help by buying groceries and other necessities for the residents of Dream House as well as providing them with one-on-one mentorship. Dream House is a program of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, a Bay Area agency that helps children, parents, and seniors overcome challenges in their lives. The Impact Residents of Dream House receive a safe home, counseling, and support to help them create a bright and self-sufficient future for their families. Our goal is to help residents leave Dream House and take the next step in their lives with stronger self-esteem, a network of support, a secure place to live, and financial means of support. No resident leaves Dream House until they reach this goal.

Summary Sure We Can is a redemption center and sustainability hub in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which has been serving the community for 11 years. In addition to providing container-deposit redemption service, we view it as our responsibility to apply our effort and creativity to the worsening problems of consumption and waste in general, the consequences of which are exacerbating climate change and making the world a less clean, safe, and healthy place for our families. This year, we've applied ourselves to the issue of single-use plastic film, which frustrates recyclers in New York City and across the world. It's ubiquitous, being used in restaurants, retailers, pharmacies, and in innumerable other places. NYC's 2020 plastic bag ban is a step in the right direction but is not close to sufficient: exceptions for wholesalers, restaurant delivery, and others mean plastic film will remain a part of our city's landscape, continuing to blight our streets and clog our recycling centers. Sure We Can aims to address this creatively by first collecting single-use plastic film from consumers who don't wish to send it to the landfill, and also from local businesses, then "upcycling" it into sheets of durable, one-of-a-kind material. This new plastic can be used for all sorts of purposes: fabricated into reusable bags, sewn into clothing or accessories, or incorporated into new artistic or creative projects. Check out our first partnership, with Brooklyn designer Zero Waste Daniel: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/caitochs/t... With our current setup, we can only operate on a very small scale. In order to make a meaningful impact on the plastic film problem we need to make upgrades to our workshop facility. These changes will permit us to scale up our collection and production capacity, while also increasing our efficiency. By donating to this project, you will be contributing directly to the removal of single-use plastic film from New York City streets, and its reconstitution into something beautiful, unique, and long-lasting. What We Need & What You Get Our budget: New heat press: $650 Floor leveling, weather-proofing, electrical improvements, materials/labor: $2500 Fan ventilation system install, purchase/labor: $300 Industrial sewing machine and 15,000 yds of thread: $600 Laboratory scale, .01g: $150 Workshop tools, including rotary cutters, mats, and lighting: $300 Buffer for contingencies, additional labor costs, and Indiegogo's cut: $500 With these needs fulfilled, we'll be in a position to meet our incoming production demands. In addition, by contributing, you can participate in our project in a tangible way! Starting with gifts as low as $10, you can be a real part of our work, from having your name painted on our donor wall, to commissioning a custom piece of material, or even coming to learn the process for yourself. Our aim is to include you in our team of world-changers! If we are unable to reach our goal, we will use the funds to do what facility improvements we can. Our budget is prioritized with most important on top, least important below, and we will follow that guide, using the resources available to us. If we surpass our goal, we will use the additional funds to take the next steps in our project: to pay for the labor required to design and create prototypes of reusable bags, wallets, and other accessories. The Impact Plastic degrades, but it doesn’t biodegrade. This means that plastic microfibers not only permeate the soil, air, and water system but also become increasingly toxic over time because they absorb other contaminants and get passed up the food chain by animals. In New York City, plastic film poses an even more pressing problem because this toxic material is not recyclable through the city's recycling program. In addition, plastic film which gets put in recycle bins by well-meaning citizens ends up clogging recycling machinery, reducing the efficiency of the whole city's recycling. Residents of New York State discard 23 billion plastic bags annually. In NYC in 2017, 122 pounds of plastic film per household went into the waste stream. Multiply that by 7 million households--it's a serious issue. Most of this plastic use will not be addressed by the city's exception-filled 2020 plastic bag ban. Our upcycling program aims to address this not only by reducing the volume of plastic which blights our streets and curbside waste, but also transforming that plastic into high-quality, long-lasting goods which serve a practical function, project individuality and creativity, and raise awareness, all at once. By contributing to our infrastructure upgrade, you will directly increase our ability and capacity to collect this destructive material and to educate and elevate our community. Risks & Challenges This undertaking is inherently risky: we believe our plastic material is important and valuable, but market forces can be merciless. In order to have a real impact with this project, we need to make sure we have an efficient, effective, clean, and safe workspace, and we need to work with others to gather single-use plastic which has been or will be discarded. Our challenges are to make strong and long-lasting facility improvements, and cultivate a supportive network. Our work is just one organ in the body of a sustainable economy, so we need to make sure we do our job right, and that we meet the needs of our community! Thankfully, we have staff with expert knowledge in building to make sure our workshop gets outfitted just right, and strong relationships with local canners and businesspeople, who will help us with sourcing. Other Ways You Can Help If you're unable to donate, please spread the word about this project! Alternately, if you're in NYC, come visit us and volunteer! If you know someone who might be interested in using our material, or who works with plastic film and doesn't know what to do with it all, put them in touch with us! The more people are talking and thinking about the materials and practices which tend to be taken for granted, the more awareness will organically spread, and the more changes will become evident in the culture. No effort is too small!

Overview + KEEP YOUR CASH SAFE FROM PICKPOCKETS - Hidden security pockets to conceal spare cash from thieves. + FULLY ADJUSTABLE & PREMIUM MATERIALS - Made from high-quality elastic 100% nylon and German Magnetic Fidlock buckle. + MODULAR ADD-ONS - The Stealth Pouch, Carabiner and CardHolder are the perfect companions for convenient travel. + COMES IN 3 SIZES - 24" - 38" / 39" - 48" / 49" - 56". An Anti-Theft Belt Created To Last The truth is we live in the age of planned obsolescence. Most products built today are not meant to last and create large amounts of unnecessary waste. We've grown accustomed to using our clothes and other accessories for a few months, maybe two years tops. Here at ALPAKA, we like to do things a little bit differently. All of our gear is engineered to last. We believe in constructing high-quality goods that will make you feel proud to wear them. The Stealth Belt is no exception. We invite you to keep reading on to discover why this belt could be the travel solution you've been looking for. The Stealth Belt is an anti-theft belt that looks and functions like a normal belt but is equipped with cleverly hidden compartments that allow you to completely conceal your cash or keys. It's also adjustable (one size fits all from 24" to 38") and easy to use. Larger sizing (> 38) available at the end of campaign. It's also great whenever you have..ahem..an emergency (yeah, we went there) and need to quickly unbuckle it. Simply lift the pull tab and boom, it's unbuckled. Since the buckle is magnetic, it's just as easy to buckle it back up. Have you ever found yourself having to change your SIM while overseas but not being able to find a pin to eject the tray? The Stealth Belt comes with a SIM Tray Pin Pull Tab so you never have to deal with this problem again. You can also store a SIM card inside the pull tab. The Magnetic Cardholder eliminates the need for a lanyard and simplifies the way you commute. It's also great for holding ID cards for work, etc. It's sustainable as it's mostly made from upcycled materials from our other products. We're bringing you the Stealth Belt Travel System at a very affordable price. The reason we do this is to show our appreciation for believing in us. This is our 7th crowdfunding campaign and we're fully confident in our ability to deliver. Nevertheless, we like to see things from your point of view and understand that backing a crowdfunding campaign is placing your trust in the creator's expertise to deliver. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Whether this is your first time, your 7th time or somewhere in between time backing us, a heartfelt thank you for being part of the journey.