Led by Madison artists Maria Schirmer Devitt and Nia Jackson, the Making Justice shoe design project found a groove and continues to excite students and build out more opportunities to create a personal brand, wear something you make, and learn about the business angles of the craft. 

Maria and Nia built many relationships with youth and other mentors, along with a toolkit for best supplies and practices to finish a product within the structures of the Juvenile Detention Center and the Juvenile Court Shelter Home.

During the year of experimenting and perfecting our workshops, we learned that students are usually able to finish one pair of shoes during our weekend series at the Shelter Home. But with less time and more constraints at the the Juvenile Detention Center, we learned that while shoes were tough to complete, students were able to easily knock out a pair of custom sandals over a weekend.

And we are excited to incorporate the shoe design option into our new bi-annual Rebranding series at GROW Academy.