ABOUT LA ESCUELA
The Escuela Johanna Ortiz is a transformative on-site training program established in 2016. Its primary goal is cultivating advanced seamstress and high end embroidery skills and fostering local expertise in haute couture and JO signature techniques. Beyond technical proficiency, the program instills life skills and comprehensive training with a gender focused approach for vulnerable women. It also provides essential psychosocial support, empowering participants to enhance their quality of life.
Our scholarship provides hands-on training, psychological assistance, a legal wage, social security, transportation, meals, and essential materials. Graduates also have the opportunity to join the JO team.
- "The Escuela Johanna Ortiz is a space where doors open, communities grow stronger, and opportunities are created. Here, learning goes beyond technical skillsāit becomes the foundation for each person to discover their true potential through haute couture."
- Johanna Ortiz
CONTRIBUTION
To date, 300 individuals have benefited, 97% of whom are women, and 66% joined the JO team after completion. This has improved their quality of life by providing tools for economic independence and emotional strength. The Escuela Johanna Ortiz continues to invest in enhancing labor inclusion and employability and creating opportunities that transform lives through fashion in Colombia.
"Being part of La Escuela has given me new tools as a mother, a woman, and a professional. It has changed my mindset and taught me that I have the power to write a new story for my life."
-Lojana Marcela RuiĢz, student from the ninth cohort.
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