Rebecca Perry Blog

Designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka will visit Publicolor's Summer Design Studio at Pratt Institute on Thursday, July 30, WWD reported.

Publicolor is a New York-based nonprofit which engages inner-city students in their "disconnected education through design-based programs, academic support and by teaching career-readiness skills," according to its website. It was founded by the organization's current president Ruth Lande Shuman.

Badgley and Mischka will be speaking with 70 students from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Harlem who are currently involved with Publicolor's seven-week program for at-risk teens. The summer curriculum teaches them textile design through dyeing, weaving, sewing and pattern-making, according to WWD.

The Badgley Mischka designers will review the students' work and before offering some light school and career advice. This will be the first time Badgley and Mischka has been involved with Publicolor.

The middle and high school Publicolor students get the opportunity to stay at Pratt this summer, giving them a chance to feel more comfortable about pursuing college. Many of the students will be the first members of their family to do so, according to WWD. The nonprofit helps college-bound students secure any necessary financial aid and subsidizes any possible shortfalls.

Many luxury designers have been sharing their skills, knowledge (and personal funds) to help nonprofit organizations across the globe.

For example, nonprofit organization God's Love We Deliver opened an expanded facility — called the Michael Kors building — in Soho last month.The program works to supply meals to New Yorkers living with illnesses.

"When you think about how God's Love started, it was a basement of a church. It really was all about, let's look at the problem and what can we do to solve something," Kors told WWD.

"That's what God's Love is about: taking a stranger and turning them into a neighbor," the designer added.

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