Civic organization

Canopy NWA

The naan Inspired Hands sells at local farmers markets was baked at home, in NWA, by a woman from Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, or Guatemala who cannot take work outside the home. Program coordinator Saja Alshafaey gave KUAF the reasons, "culture, transportation, child care, language," and the line exists because of them. It is Canopy NWA's own line, and Canopy is a refugee resettlement nonprofit based in Fayetteville: the baking stays in the makers' kitchens, and the goods go out under the Inspired Hands name to the markets and an online shop, the naan for a start and a sweet bread sold as Saida's. The larger version of the same move is a list. Canopy's entrepreneurship program is training, loan assistance, and then a directory on Canopy's own site, by business and owner, of who came through: Aziz Aqa Zahed's Kabul Chef, the Afghan food truck on Dickson Street in Fayetteville; Sandy Thana's Chooky Sauce; Ursula Langley's Island Girl Boutique, Marshallese clothing and fabric; Emri Luther's Lakwe Creationz. The cooking and the cloth are theirs. Entrepreneurship coordinator Devon Newman, on one graduating cohort, told KUAF that "they have different styles that they've learned from their countries," and by KUAF's account the program is at its ninth cohort, funded for the next three years, and adding a class taught entirely in Spanish or Arabic. Canopy itself makes none of it. What there is to do with Canopy is read the list and buy the bread, and Alshafaey told KUAF where the organization's own part sits: "maybe with us it's going to be the beginning."