With support from the California Arts Council, NEOCOCO COLLECTIVE will support the Neococo Empowerment Program — a collaborative initiative uniting California-based immigrant and refugee women artisans with their broader Los Angeles community through the traditions of hand embroidery, weaving, and textile craft. Rooted in the cultural heritage of historically under-resourced immigrant and refugee communities, the program engages women ages 30–55 many of them survivors of displacement and persecution — as both artists and community members. Grant funds will support artist stipends, workforce development programming, artisan skill-building, and public exhibitions that invite community dialogue around immigrant identity, belonging, and resilience. Collaborative artistic practice serves as the vehicle for addressing economic disparity, cultural erasure, and social marginalization experienced by immigrant and refugee women in California, transforming lived experience into dignified, market-connected creative livelihoods.