New Digz Consignment Gives New Life to Vintage Clothing
New Digz Consignment co-founder Sadiqa Brown is simultaneously helping to prevent environmental waste while turning a profit and ensuring that vintage clothes can see a new home.
“Consigning, recycling, sustainability: it’s always been a good thing for the environment,” said Brown. “Consigning is also a way to recycle and get your money back for the stuff you’ve paid for.”
Brown met Kelli Queen, the other co-founder of New Digz Consignment, as a coworker in corporate America before the former’s job was eliminated.
Queen, who said she “grew up in consignment,” told Brown about Savvy Consignment in Severna Park. Now, they’ve worked together for 11 years in the consignment space and have two locations: one in upper Marlboro, another in Crofton.
According to environmental experts, merchandising giants such as Shein, often referred to as “fast fashion” brands, have worsened the problems of textile waste and pollution. It is estimated that 10% of the world’s carbon emissions are produced by the fashion industry and petroleum-based polyester, increasingly used to keep costs down for manufacturers and consumers alike, takes over 200 years to decompose.
Grant Awarded to Nonprofit Specializing in Foster Youth
Paths for Families, an adoption and family well-being nonprofit that often partners with the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services, was awarded $770,000 by the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission and Maryland Consortium on Coordinated Community Supports. The funding is to provide evidence-based counseling and trauma-informed training to staff, students and families in Prince George’s County high schools.
“Our team has worked with populations in need of trauma-responsive care for more than three decades, so we’re uniquely qualified to serve this critical community need,” said Paths for Families’ Director of Clinical services Melanie Geddings-Hayes. “I know this effort can make a profound impact on the lives of students and their families, and create a more sensitive, nurturing, and responsive climate for students and families to thrive.”
Funding for these new programs was made available by the state’s General Assembly under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future initiative, and will allow the nonprofit to provide specialized, evidence-based counseling to high school students currently experiencing foster care or living with a guardian or adoptive parent. The funding also allows the organization to provide monthly support sessions for caregivers through June 30, 2025.
Trauma-informed care training and coaching will be facilitated with staff from all 33 high schools in Prince George’s County.
“We welcome the opportunity for Paths for Families to bring their expertise around trauma-informed training and counseling to Prince George’s County Public Schools,” said Jamie E. Dixon, deputy director of clinical programs and support services for the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services, in a recommendation letter for the grant application. “[This work] has the potential to meet the critical needs of children, families, and professionals in Prince George’s County.”
Learn more about their organization here.
Washington Area Bicyclist Association Hosts Vision Zero Event
Prince George’s youth are using their voices to address pedestrian safety, public transportation and the dire need for more dedicated safety infrastructure. Following a rise in car accidents and crashes involving youth, Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) Advocacy Director Jeremiah Lowery organized a Youth Vision Zero Town Hall on April 13 for student leaders to gather ideas to create a more safe community for their classmates and colleagues.
“Elected officials, policy makers, and transportation officials need to hear the perspective of students, and the students in WABA’s cohort have done just that- met with elected officials in Prince George’s County and Maryland transportation and planning officials to share their valuable insights into transportation safety,” said Lowery.
The WABA advocacy director emphasized the importance of young people’s voices.
“The more policy makers listen carefully to young people and apply their feedback into policies, the better policies will be,” Lowery said. I’m thankful state and county officials are working to ensure that students have a safer experience getting to school, and I look forward to working further with policy makers to ensure our roads are safer for everyone- drivers, pedestrians, and anyone who walks or rolls to their destination.”
He recommends that legislators focus on Complete Streets policies, which lower speed limits, improve pedestrian infrastructure, narrow roads by providing protected bike lanes, and ensure that roads have sufficient sidewalks and crosswalks.
Lowery, who lives between Takoma Park and Hyattsville, lives near an intersection where a traffic signal has been added as a stopgap measure, but would like to see more done to make that five-lane road safer to cross.
“This is a problem across our nation, and in Prince George’s County,” said Lowery. “I know many parents choose to drive their children to school despite living within a mile of their local school, because there simply isn’t sufficient, basic pedestrian infrastructure, like sidewalks or crosswalks.”
