We envision a world in which every child receives a high quality education and a chance to achieve their dreams and flourish.

Our Mission is to empower families in difficult situations to break their cycles of poverty and create a more hopeful future.

Crafting Love and Hope (CLH) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the wellbeing of impoverished families by providing or connecting them with educational, social, and livelihood support. Crafting Love and Hope utilizes a holistic approach to raise families out of poverty and create new opportunities for success and healing by engaging both children and their parents. As a social enterprise, we strive to fund our services in a financially sustainable manner through the sale of traditional Moroccan artisanal products.

Our Values

Integrity

Conducting business in a way that is honest, transparent and ethical.

Empowerment

Inspiring optimism, a love for life, and the courage to build a better future.

Accountability

Demanding responsibility and results in our own work and in the work of others.

Passion

Promoting mindful and loving devotion to social development.

Collaboration

Leveraging the power of working together, including connecting beneficiaries with existing services and organizations.

Diversity

Accepting and celebrating the differences between human beings.

Our Team

Saloua Lahlou

Saloua Lahlou

Founder and Executive Director

Saloua Lahlou is the founder of Crafting Love and Hope. She grew up in Morocco and  completed her studies in the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from Jacksonville State University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering in Health Systems from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently a Health and Life Sciences Senior Solutions Consultant at Salesforce. Saloua was inspired to start Crafting Love and Hope by her mother’s use of crafts to support her family and enable her children to create a better life for themselves through education. Saloua believes that technology has the power to improve people’s lives and wanted to pass those skills to youth to empower them to discover opportunities for themselves across the globe.

Elizabeth Jay

Elizabeth Jay

Youth and Women’s Empowerment Program Manager

Elizabeth holds a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from DePauw University and an MA in Applied Sociology from the University of Indianapolis where she was an adjunct professor in the sociology department at the University of Indianapolis.  Her time in Morocco has been dedicated towards empowering youth and women through sustainable, grassroots projects. She has a great passion towards Crafting Love and Hope initiatives and focuses on establishing partnerships with like-minded organizations and creating engaging programming to help marginalized groups build the necessary skills to break the cycle of poverty.

Nick Boedicker

Nick Boedicker

Manager, Program Design

Nick Boedicker is an international development professional with experience in project and program design, management, and monitoring and evaluation. He has worked extensively in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the US, and his past positions have included work in post-conflict recovery, community health, education, disability, migration and refugee issues, and sustainable livelihoods. Nick holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC. He is the founder of Strategic Good, a consulting firm focused on social enterprise, impact, and innovation.

Badr Allouche

Badr Allouche

English Language Program Manager

Badr Allouche holds a BA in English studies from Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, Morocco. He was born in Sale, but grew up all over Morocco. After getting exposed to the development field, Badr has dedicated his time to empowering youth and women in his community and other communities around the country. He has experience as an English Teacher, Life Skills trainer, Arabic Model UN Facilitator, and an American football coach. Before joining our team, Badr worked as an Arabic Language Center Director in Rabat. Previously he was a language and cross-cultural facilitator with Peace Corps Morocco. His life experiences have made him passionate about empowering youth in Morocco and he is excited to bring that passion to CLH. Badr’s mission is to use education as tool to empower youth around the world and to bring sustainability to their communities.

Our Interns 

Lily Erickson

Lily Erickson

CLH Intern

Lily Erickson  is a recipient of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship, Lily is spending a gap year studying Arabic in Rabat, Morocco while being an Intern at CLH before attending the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in fall 2019. While with CLH, she works on integrating in the community on a deeper level and engaging with Moroccan women in important conversations, specifically surrounding women’s health and entrepreneurship.

Mara Fong

Mara Fong

CLH Intern

Mara Fong is a gap year student with the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a State Department-funded language program. After her year in Morocco, she will attend Brown University in Fall 2019. She was the lead welder and head hand tools trainer on her school’s robotics team and spent a summer in Bochum, Germany tutoring Syrian refugees and volunteering at a refugee center. Mara applies those skills to expanding CLH’s Technovation program.

Nezha Lamine

Nezha Lamine

CLH Intern

Nezha Lamine is a graduate from the National School of Business and Management In Settat- Morocco, with a BBA in Supply Chain Management. She was born in Rabat,  though her family is originally from Taroudant the region. Apart from her business background, she loves to dedicate her time and effort to youth and women’s empowerment, which is why she chose to be part of the CLH team. She is confident that through CLH, we can achieve great things and move towards a better world where everyone gets the chance to be who they truly want to be.

Salma Labbi

Salma Labbi

CLH Intern

Salma Labbi is a Political Sciences and International Relations student  at the International University of Rabat. Born and raised in Rabat, she has always been fascinated by the diverse women that she met throughout her childhood, and how they deal with the different facets of Moroccan culture. She is currently working on her Bachelor thesis revolving around the influence of civil society on social policies in Morocco. Wanting a more concrete and direct impact, Salma joined CLH to actively take part in the empowerment of the different girls and women we work with.

Our Advisors 

Margarita Gonzales

Margarita Gonzales

Advisor, Strategic Alliances and Community Engagement

Ms. Margarita Gonzalez serves as an advisor in the area of Strategic Alliances and Community Engagement.  Ms. Gonzalez works closely with the Crafting Love & Hope team to align its mission, vision, and purpose with the strategic objectives of key community stakeholders and international partners.  She assists in the development of innovative, strategic, well-executed alliances for Crafting Love & Hope.  Her work in support of Crafting Love & Hope rests at the intersection of partner strategy, CL&H brand strategy, and holistic community engagement. Ms. Gonzalez is a Research Strategist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

Brien Jones-Lantzy

Brien Jones-Lantzy

Advisor

Brien Jones-Lantzy has held the position of President, and currently Vice President of the Annapolis Maryland based Hospice Cup Inc. (HCI) Hospice Cup is a 503c organization which raises funds for and awareness of Hospice Care in the VA, DC, MD and PA region. Each year it is the goal of the HCI board to raise over $1 million dollars to be distributed to over 30+ Hospice in the Mid-Atlantic area. Under Mr. Jones-Lantzy’s direction the HCI board has reached this goal for the past 9 years and is looking to expand their influence into the area of Adolescent Hospice Care. Mr. Jones-Lantzy’ holds a Masters Degree from Edinboro University and resides with his family in Annapolis, Maryland

Robert Tomasko

Robert Tomasko

Advisor, Social Enterprise Strategy

Robert Tomasko directs the Social Enterprise Program and holds a faculty appointment at American University, where he teaches graduate courses in corporate social responsibility, effective activism, leadership, NGO management and social entrepreneurship. Before coming to American University he was an author, business consultant, and frequent speaker at management conferences throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from Harvard and a Bachelor of Science from Case Institute of Technology.

Our “Passion For Impact” Community