The nation’s only nonprofit org. providing decorative arts education and employment to at-risk youths & adults with disabilities or other vulnerabilities. Creating Beauty, Changing Lives The Alpha Workshops provides creative HIV+ individuals and other vulnerable populations with industry-specific training and employment in the decorative arts. Our mission is: 1) to draw on the powerful healing potential of useful work and creative self expression;2) to provide training and employment in a flexible, compassionate workplace; 3) to compete in the marketplace successfully at the highest level of craftsmanship and artistry; and 4) to provide a new model of economic development for people living with HIV/AIDS or other disabilities. Our goal is to empower HIV+ individuals to channel their creativity into a rewarding future of economic independence.We operate two separate but partnered programs: The Alpha Workshops Studio School is a vocational schoollicensed by the New York State Department of Education. Alpha Workshops Studios is an award-winning professional design and decorative arts atelier staffed exclusively by graduates of the Studio School. Our students, most of whom are reliant on public assistance and have been unemployed or underemployed foryears, are recruited through agency partnerships and by word of mouth by program graduates. Students learn marketable creative techniques and work readiness skills to prepare them for employment. The design studio is a highly respected and competitive entity, consistently generating 1/3 of our annual income through sales of goods (wallpaper, tables, lamps) and services (wall treatments and decorative finishes).