Swan City & New Image Youth Center (NIYC)
The Black Lives Matter movement has deeply moved Andrew and Jeff - so much so that Swan City took the firm stance to remove all products not related to this movement, create five unique and limited products, and send 100% of proceeds from those products to a black owned or aligned organization that was locally supporting our community. That was only six days ago and the reception from the community and showing of support has exceeded their expectations. But even with donations they were left with the feeling that more could be done.
Thanks to a Swan City supporter we were told about New Image Youth Center, a locally black owned organization that has been a safe haven for Parramore youth for going on 16 years. NIYC is one of the longest-serving youth organizations in the Parramore community, and provide a range of services to students in grades K-12, at no cost to participants. To be honest we both felt ignorant and ashamed to not have known about this amazing organization and its founder, Dr. Shanta Barton-Stubbs, sooner. Andrew met with Dr. Barton-Stubbs on June 9th and in talking with her about NIYC was moved to do more.
As of June 13th, the remaining proceeds from our products sold will go directly to NIYC and the mission led out by Dr. Shanta Barton-Stubbs. Additionally, we are committed to dedicating our own time to volunteering with NIYC because we believe that children are our future and deserve all the opportunities that can be awarded to them. We know that through these children and our partnership we can create lasting change in our City Beautiful. For anyone interested in donating directly to their cause please feel free to do so. And those that can volunteer time or services to this amazing organization can reach out to myself or directly to Dr. Shanta Barton-Stubbs.
We are nothing without our community and our diversity stems from our ability to come together and rise up. We hope that you will rise up with us.
Peace, love & swans,
Andrew & Jeff