Building Community Through Creativity

When life gets overwhelming, it’s hard to slow down, do something restorative for ourselves, and connect with others. But taking time for ourselves and the people in our lives – like by creating things – is a need everyone has, as much as we put it aside. At Opportunity Council, arts and crafts are just one of the ways we help people get on their feet and build connection.

Crafting and art are about the beauty of making something, not about someone’s artistic ability. Not only are they a creative outlet, but they’re also essential tools for creating connection, healing, and staying resilient. Whether it’s tenants living at Dorothy Place or other housing programs creating wreaths for the holidays and expressing themselves through art; kids making art and strengthening brain connections; health fair visitors creating a visual forest of feelings; or volunteers coming together to craft, these activities have a big impact.

A Bridge to Resilience and Hope

One of the most powerful aspects of crafting and art is their ability to help people build resilience. For people who have faced hard circumstances like homelessness, addiction, or trauma, creating something can serve as an act of hope and healing. In Opportunity Council’s programs, crafting creates a space for individuals to reconnect with themselves, express their emotions, and share their stories.

Crafting Connection

For people involved in Opportunity Council’s programs, the act of making something with their hands is an opportunity to slow down, reflect, and connect with others on a deeper level. This creates a sense of belonging and a chance to share experiences and stories.

Whether it’s through painting, wreath-making, or crafting, art, especially in a group setting, is a powerful tool for breaking down barriers. It’s an outlet for emotions and the creativity that everyone has within. Art can convey what could be otherwise difficult to express, giving people who might feel isolated or disconnected a way to share their feelings and feel seen by others. When people live alone, getting to celebrate the holidays with others through activities like wreath-making and cookie decorating gives them a sense of tradition and normalcy. This sense of community is vital for people in our programs, whatever their story may be.

By working together on a common project, we build relationships. Crafting brings together tenants in OC housing programs like the Laurel Forest apartments for older adults. Laurel Forest residents recently gathered to create holiday wreaths and decorate cookies, bringing warmth, creativity, and a sense of holiday cheer to their community. At Dorothy Place, our apartment complex for people and families who’ve experienced domestic violence, the whole family came to the wreath-making community night, creating intergenerational connections.

Another time that art creates connections that help us grow is when we get together with our partner Ideal Option, which will soon be offering peer counseling at 22 North and Dorothy Place. Dawn, a member of the Ideal Option team, has been joining in on 22 North and Dorothy Place community events and crafting with residents. By crafting together, Dawn and the residents got to know each other, rebuilding the trust in others that is so often lost when people experience long-term homelessness.

At the Volunteer Center of Whatcom County, crafting is also a great way to get people together and show how much the center cares about its volunteers. Through volunteer appreciation events like cookie decorating and making paper snowflakes, volunteers come together to celebrate their work and bond over shared experiences. These activities are more than just fun — they strengthen the Volunteer Center community and let folks share in the joy of creating.

Here, crafting is about people’s conversations while decorating cookies and their laughter shared while making snowflakes. It’s a welcoming place where volunteers can not only give back to others, but also receive support and connection in return.

All ages get to enjoy the unifying power of art with us. In the spring of 2023, a family event called the Art Carnival offered a range of hands-on arts and crafts. These ranged from a group weaving project to painting with trucks and dinosaurs and making picture frames and magnets. Kids, parents, and caregivers came together to create, play, and enjoy each other’s company in a fun and supportive environment. Events like this show how art can bring people of all ages together to share, create, and build community.

Connecting and Expressing Through Creativity

Addressing the emotional and spiritual health of its attendees, last year’s Catherine Mahaffey East Whatcom Wellness Fair fostered a sense of connection and support, also through a craft. Held at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center in Kendall, the annual fair brings people together for health services, resources, and fun. An activity at the fair, “What Are You Leafing With,” invited fair-goers to write down what they value most on paper leaves and add them to a shared forest background. This simple but impactful activity gave people a place to express themselves, reflect on their values and experience, and see how much they had in common with others.

The wellness fair isn’t just about accessing health care — it’s about bringing together the close-knit East Whatcom community. “What Are You Leafing With” is a visual representation of shared values that builds a sense of belonging and unity, making it clear that the community is connected by common feelings and experiences.

Expressing Themselves

At 22 North, our permanent supportive housing apartments for people who have experienced long-term homelessness, art and crafts are a powerful tool for building community. 22 North residents recently had an art contest, with the winner’s painting of her daughter’s bright spirit beautifully illustrating what she wrote: “Home is where the 💗 is.” The contest allowed residents to reflect on their experiences and share a piece of their heart.

The first way that young ones learn is through art, as Opportunity Council’s Head Start preschool programs know well. Kids regularly pick up crayons and paint, expressing things that they aren’t sure yet how to say in words. Kids can build their creative muscles when they keep making art. It also stimulates their imagination and cognitive, emotional, and social development.

In 2024, three of our Head Start preschool centers participated in Allied Arts’ annual Children’s Art Walk by creating artwork to be displayed at the Early Learning office. This was an exciting opportunity to showcase the creative talents of the kiddos we’ve had the chance to get to know and love. Beyond showcasing their art, these young kids are showing they’re an important part of the community and learning skills in creativity, expression, and collaboration that they’ll use their whole lives.

Art and Early Childhood Development

Through creating, kids don’t just build their fine motor skills. They learn how to think critically and solve problems – whether they’re figuring out how to create a shape with clay, show the relationships between people, or choose what colors to paint with, kids are practicing decision-making and experimenting with new ideas.

While a big example of this is art by Head Start preschoolers, the youngest of kids aren’t left out of the fun, either. We work with kids and parents from pregnancy to age 3 through two programs, Early Head Start and Early Support for Infants & Toddlers (ESIT), which have their own art projects that help young ones grow. The programs use simple arts and crafts that stimulate young brains, help their fine motor skills along, and give caregivers a way to have back-and-forth interactions that we know help young brains develop.

Families in these programs make homemade, edible Play-Doh, finger paint, and make sticky paper collages using easy-to-find materials like cotton balls, paper cutouts, and stickers. Home Educators and Coaches work with caregivers on activities like their favorite, “chips in a can.” Caregivers or Home Educators wrap a can in colorful paper and make simple “chips” using cut and laminated paper, or tools found around the house, for the kiddo to grab and place in a cutout slot in the can.  When kids and their caregivers make art together, parents respond to their kids’ cues, building trust and safety and forming new connections in young brains.

The Unifying Power of Creating

Whether it’s decorating cookies, making wreaths, or painting a picture that reflects someone’s spirit, crafting reminds us of the importance of slowing down, being present, and connecting. It helps us find joy in the process of creation and find strength in community. By giving people the chance to engage in creative activities, Opportunity Council builds both the individual and collective spirit of our communities.

Through creativity, people find ways to express themselves  and build meaningful relationships. Whether it’s in the places people call home, volunteer events, wellness fairs, or early childhood education, the act of creating gives people a sense of belonging and unity that helps build a supportive and resilient community. In our often disconnected and fast-paced world, art and crafting remind us of the power of creativity to bring us together and create something beautiful, both for ourselves and for each other.

Donate today so kids can keep learning through creating; so people can stay in their homes with their friends; so East Whatcom residents can continue getting what they need to stay healthy; and so that volunteers can create more and more change in our community.