Meghan Markle & Prince Harry Announce New Project

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have revealed a new program through their Archewell Foundation, publishing its annual Impact Report, which showed Meghan quietly launched a new initiative inspired by the Hubb Community Kitchen.

Named The Welcome Project, the programs supports "women-led programming for recently resettled Afghan women to help build more inclusive and connected communities."

Currently, there are 11 active Welcome Projects across the US, "designed to foster a sense of belonging” through activities such as sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling and cooking.

Hubs are being run in Oakland and Orange County; California, Missoula; Montana, San Antonio; Texas, Milwaukee; Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., South Bend; Indiana, Clarkston; Georgia, Lynn; Massachusetts, and Sterling and Arlington; Virginia.

The Impact Report outlines 98.8% have made a meaningful relationship or friendship, 97.7% have boosted their sense of social connections, decreasing loneliness, and 98.8% agree culture and lifestyle have been respected. 

During a visit to a joint military base on Veteran's Day, Meghan connected with women from displaced Afghan families, and learned they needed a place to build community. 

Harry and Meghan started planning then, having the Archewell Foundation partner with Team Rubicon and Welcome.US. 

After it was repeatedly heard that the "intense social isolation women in particular were experiencing," the Archewell Foundation launched The Welcome Project this year. 

The programming brings access to critical resources, educational opportunities, workforce development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

“We know that when women are well resourced and empowered to direct their own futures, they not only build a better life for themselves, but also dramatically improve the lives of those around them, their families, and their communities. In other words, supporting women means supporting communities."

The report also revealed the Welcome Project used food to bring individuals together. 'Welcome Dinners' are also held to bring people together over a meal. 

In 2018, Meghan helped with the release of 'Together: Our Community Cookbook.' She cooked with a group of women who had suffered following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. 

She wrote the foreword for the complete collection of 50 recipes, and a part of the proceeds benefitted the cooking space. 

The Hubb Community Kitchen was formed at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in London in 2017, in order to provide support for survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

During her first visit to the kitchen in January 2018, Meghan learned the women were only able to use the space twice a week, due to funding. 

“It was just all natural — the joy, the happiness. The environment just makes everyone feel you want to join in. She was loving — the recipes, the flavors that were put together. She tasted some of our menus, and she asked me, ‘Let’s make a cookbook.’”

The project hit as it was her first major solo charity project as the Duchess of Sussex.

Since, she has stayed in touch with the women, jumping on a video call in 2020, and sending a voice message on the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.