26 | JULY 21 • 2022 

G

esher Human Services 
(formerly JVS + 
Kadima) is collabo-
rating with Detroit’s College 
for Creative Studies (CCS) to 
offer Metro Detroiters with 
intellectual and developmental 
disabilities a chance to explore 
their artistic and fashion skills 
by designing clothing and 
accessories. 

 Fashion Fridays & Wearable 
Art is the name for the new 
weekly program which began 
July 8 and is being held at CCS 
in Detroit, led by certified 
teaching artists. Classes will 
focus on self-expression, and 
the joy of making and wearing 
something that expresses partic-
ipants’ fashion flare. At the end 
of the nine-week course, partic-

ipants will take part in a fashion 
show to demonstrate the cloth-
ing they have created. 
Attendees are all participants 
in Choices, a program offered 
by Gesher Human Services 
where individuals with dis-
abilities engage in enriching 
activities to keep them active 
and engaged in the community. 
Gesher Human Services is a 
nonprofit organization which 
serves vulnerable communities 
including those with disabilities 
and severe mental illness. 
“We wanted to encourage 
creativity with a focus on fash-
ion for our Choices members, 
and teaming up with the pro-
fessional artists at CCS gave us 
a wonderful opportunity to do 
just that,
” said Craig Nowak, 
program director of Creative 
Expressions, the multi-disci-
plinary arts program at Gesher 
Human Services. “Designing 
clothes and accessories is a 
unique way to express your 
style, and we know it will give 

our members confidence and 
pride while learning new skills 
for self-expression.
”
Program classes will include 
creating loose garments (tops 
and bottoms) from fabric and 
paper; creating fashion acces-
sories such as bags, totes, hats, 
wrist bands and jewelry from 
leather and paper; and making 
simple leather sandals. 
Assistant Director for 
Education and Outreach for 
Community Arts Partnership 
at CCS Larry Lunsford said that 
the program is reaching a mar-
ginalized community who may 
not have benefitted from such 
art instruction in the past. 
“Working with our talented 
artists, individuals will get to 
construct pieces of wearable art 
that they can actively wear and 
enjoy,
” he said. 

For more information on Creative 

Expressions, contact Craig Nowak at 

craign@kadimacenter.org. Submitted 

by Gesher Human Services.

of people around the world,
” 
Lawrence Wolfe says.
The Davidson Institute of 
Science Education has grown to 
be one of the most influential 
leaders of science literacy and 
education in Israel since its 
establishment in 1999 by the 
late William (Bill) Davidson 
of Bloomfield Hills, with long-
standing magnanimous support 
from the William Davidson 
Foundation. 
As the science education and 
literacy arm of the Weizmann 
Institute of Science, the 
Davidson Institute of Science 
Education runs a wide range of 
programs extending across all 
STEM areas (science, technolo-
gy, engineering and mathemat-
ics) with a mission to connect 
people from all realms of Israeli 
society — including the Arab 
community, the ultra-Orthodox 
community, the Ethiopian com-

munity, and Israel’s geographi-
cally remote and economically 
disadvantaged populations 
— to the frontiers of science. 
Programs like iScience — a 
collection of online courses, 
videos, games and articles, as 
well as virtual labs, lectures, 
and professional development 
opportunities — have become a 
model in digital education. 
Devoted to the translational 
medical research, the Gilbert S. 
Omenn and Martha A. Darling 
Weizmann Institute-Schneider 
Hospital Fund for Clinical 
Breakthroughs Through 
Scientific Collaborations will 
help pediatric practitioners 
and basic science investigators 
uncover hidden factors that 
influence health and disease 
and pave the way to more effec-
tive and personalized pediatric 
treatment.
The Mondry Family 

President’s Discretionary Fund 
will provide Weizmann Institute 
leadership with the means to 
quickly respond to scientists’ 
— and the world’s — dynamic 
needs. Providing the Institute 
with flexibility to advance 
projects despite a gap in grants, 
cover an unexpected need, 
mount a response to a crisis or 
support world-leading neuro-

science, Artificial Intelligence, 
or the Institute’s pioneering 
efforts to understand the nature 
of space, time and life itself — 
from the tiniest subatomic par-
ticles to the largest galaxies. 

Submitted by the American Committee 

for the Weizmann Institute of Science. 

For additional information, visit www.

weizmann-usa.org.

Professor Israel Bar-Joseph, Andi and Larry Wolfe, and American 
Committee CEO Dave Doneson.

ADVANCING BREAKTHROUGHS continued from page 24

OUR COMMUNITY

Metro Detroiters with developmental 
disabilities step into the fashion world.
Wearable Art

Attendees recently 
had a class on African-
inspired headwear. 

CRAIG NOWAK

