Building Businesses and Selling Wares for Sandy Victims

In an effort to help local manufacturers get back on their feet after Super Storm Sandy, Pratt Center for Community Development has launched the Made in NYC Holiday Shop, an online holiday shop featuring a variety of goods including locally-made desserts, handbags, and toys from 170 local manufacturers who employ over 3,000 workers.

"The city's small manufacturers are critical to a healthy, diverse economy with good jobs for New Yorkers, and to the character and soul of our neighborhoods," said Adam Friedman, Director, Pratt Center. "By shopping Made in NYC, consumers are helping businesses to finance their new inventory, pay their workers, and restore the local economy," he added.

L to R: Brooklyn-based Amy's Cookies is one of the businesses participating in the Pratt Center's Made in NYC Holiday Store; Days after the storm, Pratt alumni launched Storm Support to raise money for hurricane victims by selling the products they design.Storm Support is a Pratt alumni initiative that launched in the days after the hurricane. Led by 2012 undergraduate communications design alumni Walter Shock, Anshey Bhatia, and Jesse Resnick, it is a design-centric e-commerce hub where sales proceeds from merchandise—from t-shirts to totes all with compelling graphics—sourced from designers will be donated directly to rebuild the lives of Sandy victims.

"Since we started, we've had 200 orders and 300 'likes' on Facebook,” says Shock. “Our plan is to continue to develop the brand and turn this into a full-time nonprofit."

"We're taking artwork submissions and selecting the ones that appropriately fit the brand. We've been lucky enough to get artwork submitted from top designers at Apple in California and around the New York metro area,” added Shock. “We'd love to get some international submissions as well!"

Text: Bay Brown