By Julia Barcello
“I believe talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t.” LeFrak, a Hollywood film producer developing a film on the genocide in Rwanda in 2004, knew she wanted to do more. Francine LeFrak began the Same Sky Foundation in 2014, following her founding of the Francine LeFrak Foundation five years prior.
The Francine LeFrak Foundation has three program pillars: Education Programs, Workforce Development, and Financial Fluency.
The Same Sky Foundation began during LeFrak’s production in Rwanda. She knew another film wouldn’t be produced on the genocide. “I wanted to support the women who had HIV and were raped, and I knew they were very talented with their hands,” said LeFrak. “So I started a jewelry company that took advantage of their skill set.”
The company began small, but it soon grew into an education and training program in Rwanda. With The Same Sky x Indigo Africa Business Training Program, Same Sky artisans can further their business education and expand their entrepreneurial skills. The six-month program has trained over 1,000 women. The artisans create their own business collectives and work with locally sourced materials. They also gain financial empowerment with the ability to open bank accounts and access a supply chain. This helps the women sell their products to earn an above-average wage.
All the funds are donated to women in Rwanda who saw an improved life with better access to healthcare and medication. “They were much more secure in their neighborhood. Their children could go to school,” said LeFrak.
The LeFrak Foundation also supports students. The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a Pan-African women’s organization that supports female education. Additionally, The Same Sky Foundation provides scholarship support for girls to study STEM and prepare for university. The foundation as a whole provides students with the opportunity to network and work to improve their academic careers, like student Bill Gate Ntwali.
Ntwali says it was “one of the best experiences ever.” Ntwali is a rising sophomore at Columbia Medical Center thanks to support from the foundation. He explained that the program was more than just helping students receive acceptance letters; it was consistent mentorship. “The connections and the daily check-ins, the monthly check-ins, because they usually send an email to tell us how we are doing, to write what we have done so far. So it’s one of the best things.”
In 2020, LeFrak opened The Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being at Barnard College. The program provides students with access to physical and mental health, holistic wellness, and f inancial literacy support.
Three years later, The Francine A. LeFrak Wellness Center of New Jersey was opened. The center provides 1,500 formerly incarcerated women in the Re-Entry Program access to medical, dental, and mental health care at no cost.
LeFrak expressed what this work has meant to her, saying it was life-changing. “It really changed my life and was the start of me wanting to support women and doing business training and seeing the impact of a job on women. The joy I get from seeing the impact that I make in working in proximity — it’s like nothing you could ever duplicate. Seeing people transform in front of your eyes.”
