The Black Doll Project: For PPF’s inaugural project in 1995, 15,000 new black dolls were distributed to black and brown South African children who, because of apartheid, had never seen dolls made in their likeness. This goal was achieved through PPF’s mobilization of volunteers in churches, synagogues, schools, colleges and community organizations throughout the U.S.
Crafting Social Change: Beginning in 1996 in Cape Town, South Africa, as an outgrowth of the Black Doll Project, PPF worked with a local community organization that trained and employed over 800 township women to produce high-quality handcrafted items, including dolls, stuffed animals, home decorations and beaded jewelry. In 1999, PPF received a grant from the World Bank to replicate this successful program in Basadi Pele, outside Johannesburg, South Africa. More than 200 women have since been trained as master sewers and entrepreneurs, and the community is now home to an accredited manufacturing and training facility for other women. PPF has also partnered with Basadi Pele through its Uniforms 101 project to train women to produce school uniforms for children in the townships of Johannesburg. PPF’s program has enabled previously unemployed women to move toward economic self-sufficiency and provided self-esteem and hope for the future.
Cause-Based Sales: PPF has sold over 25,000 handcrafted items created by women in South African townships through synagogues, churches, schools, civic organizations, government agencies, colleges and universities, and black professional associations.
U.S.–South Africa Student Exchange Programs: PPF has worked closely with New York City high schools and other organizations, including the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem and Face to Face-Faith to Faith, to provide exchange opportunities for Harlem and South African youth. PPF also co-hosted South African students visiting the Frederick Douglass Academy.
Grant-making & Humanitarian Assistance: PPF extends humanitarian support to projects and organizations to increase their sustainability in critical areas of service delivery. Organizations we have supported include: Nkosi’s Haven in South Africa for HIV-positive children and their mothers, the Maru a Pula School in Botswana, and Iris House for HIV positive women in Harlem, among others.
Aid-To-AIDS Campaign: At a reception hosted by the Consul General of South Africa, PPF launched the sale of hand-beaded AIDS pins, a major component of their Aid-To-AIDS campaign. Akin to the AIDS "red ribbon" in the U.S., these AIDS pins were crafted according to South African hand-beading traditions and symbolized the AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
