This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Stitching Change is a Kansas City, Kansas nonprofit sewing studio and public storefront at 613 North 6th Street in Strawberry Hill — Kansas, not Missouri — founded in 2014 by Rakmi Shaiza, who remains founder and executive director. KCTV5 filmed the shop as an operating boutique-plus-classroom on 30 August 2026.

Description

Stitching Change operates a small storefront on North 6th Street in Strawberry Hill, on the Kansas side of the state line, at the edge of downtown Kansas City, Kansas. It is not a Missouri shop and not a home-studio-only program.12 KCTV5 (Betsy Webster, 30 August 2026) describes handmade goods on display at the entrance, a workroom behind the boutique, and classes that now take “women and men of all ages and backgrounds.” The piece is filed as a Strawberry Hill studio “near downtown Kansas City, Kansas” and links the official site.1 It does not print a street number. The street number on this page is from the organization’s own site: class events are listed at 613 North 6th Street, Kansas City, KS, USA, including Fall 2026 sessions on the homepage calendar when fetched.2 GuideStar gives the same building as 613 N 6th St Fl 1, Kansas City, KS 66101.3

The first-party homepage banners “A Non-Profit Organization” and “Stitching Change One Person at a Time,” and states that programs “serve and empower women refugees in Kansas City.” The same page lists sewing classes, home-business instruction, local markets for handcrafted products, and goods “Made From Repurposed, Eco-friendly Materials.”2 The Our Story page says the original mission was refugee women and that classes and training are now also offered to the Kansas City metropolitan area — matching KCTV’s 2026 reporting that classes are open to anyone in the Kansas City area.41

A public shop page points visitors to in-person and online local retail partners (Overland Park named on that page) as well as events; the KCTV visit is the 2026 evidence that the 6th Street room itself is a storefront with goods at the door, not only a classroom.51

This page is not a fabric store chain, not a for-profit alterations shop, and not any other “Stitching Change” outside Wyandotte County.

Ownership and history

Rakmi Shaiza is named “Founder” on the first-party Our Story page and “founder and Executive Director” by KCTV5.41 KCTV states she grew up in Ukhrul, a mountain town in Northeast India; came to Kansas City in 2000 to study at Central Baptist Theological Seminary; felt isolated cooking and living without the communal work of home; found other women in Kansas City, Kansas in the same bind; and that in 2014 “that conversation became Stitching Change — a place built to bring refugee women and local crafters together to share traditional sewing and embroidery skills.”1 The first-party founder bio is Shaiza’s own: born and raised in Ukhrul near Burma (Myanmar), Tangkhul (Hao) community, concern for refugees from Africa, Burma, Syria, and Nepal, and “I founded Stitching Change not only to help empower refugee women but also to be part of the change that we want to see happening in our community.”4

VoyageKC (3 November 2021) interviewed her as Rakmila Shaiza, gave website stitchingchange.org, Instagram @stitchingchange, Facebook @stitchingchange, and email rstitchingchange@gmail.com, and quoted a founding purpose of empowering women and keeping textiles out of the landfill.6 Rakmi (first-party, KCTV) and Rakmila (VoyageKC) are printed as published forms, not collapsed. The first-party contact page in 2026 is a form, not that email; the email is recorded as the 2021 VoyageKC contact, not as a live first-party address.

KSHB (Daniela Leon, 15 August 2023) also names Rakmi Shaiza as founder, Kansas City, Kansas, arrival from northeast India in 2000, and interviews program participants Sabitra Ramden (Bhutan/Nepal) and Abigail Ruta (Democratic Republic of the Congo).7 First-party staff listings use Sabitra Ramdam and Abigail Ruta (program staff) plus Andrea Huerter (administrative assistant).4 Ramden vs Ramdam is a spelling conflict; not merged.

First-party board, as listed February 2026 profile photos: Betti Kalahurka, Board President; Tracy MacClement, Board Secretary; Rev. Tim J. Schwartz, Board Treasurer; Rachel Hostetler, LMSW and Ian Kloster, board members.4

GuideStar profile for Stitching Change Inc, Kansas City, KS, EIN 88-3228348, principal officer RAKMI SHAIZA, main address 613 N 6th St Fl 1, NTEE Employment Training (J22), IRS ruling year 2024, “required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.”3 First-party does not publish the EIN. The 2014 founding (KCTV / founder’s own timeline) and the 2024 IRS ruling year are different events. IRS 501(c) subsection is not printed on the GuideStar summary fetched this pass. “ Kansas Secretary of State entity search was not run this pass.

Services

First-party and KCTV, not a menu:241

  • Community sewing classes (beginner through upcycle / intermediate-advanced; serger, patterns, measurements, reclaim-and-remake)
  • Crochet and related needlework sessions as scheduled
  • Youth sewing classes (listed on Eventbrite at this address in 2026)
  • Public storefront display of handmade goods
  • Instruction on setting up a home business
  • Markets and a shop page for handcrafted products made from repurposed or donated fabric
  • Volunteer and fabric-donation intake (contact the organization before dropping goods)

KCTV describes an upcycling class that remakes old men’s dress shirts, and a scrap rack reserved for the nonprofit’s social-enterprise projects.1

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Betsy Webster, “Heart of Kansas City: In a Strawberry Hill sewing studio, connection is stitched one class at a time,” KCTV5, published 30 August 2026, 11:18 a.m. CDT. HTTP 200. URL — asserts: operating storefront in Strawberry Hill / near downtown Kansas City, Kansas; boutique at the entrance; founder and Executive Director Rakmi Shaiza; founded 2014; Ukhrul, Northeast India; Kansas City in 2000 for Central Baptist Theological Seminary; classes now open to anyone in the Kansas City area; links stitchingchange.org. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Stitching Change (official site), accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — asserts: “A Non-Profit Organization”; programs serve and empower women refugees in Kansas City; class events at 613 North 6th Street, Kansas City, KS, USA, including September 2026 dates; sewing classes, home-business instruction, local markets, repurposed materials. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. GuideStar, “Stitching Change Inc,” profile 88-3228348, accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — asserts: Stitching Change Inc, Kansas City, KS; stitchingchange.org; EIN 88-3228348; principal officer RAKMI SHAIZA; 613 N 6th St Fl 1, Kansas City, KS 66101; ruling year 2024; NTEE Employment Training (J22); required to file Form 990 or 990-EZ. ↩ ↩2

  4. Stitching Change, “Our Story,” accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — asserts: mission and vision; original refugee-women mission expanded to the KC metro; Rakmi Shaiza, Founder, Ukhrul / Northeast India bio; staff Andrea Huerter, Abigail Ruta, Sabitra Ramdam; board Betti Kalahurka (president), Tracy MacClement (secretary), Rev. Tim J. Schwartz (treasurer), Rachel Hostetler, Ian Kloster. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Stitching Change, “Shop,” accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — asserts: shop products locally at named partner locations in-person and online; Overland Park, Kansas named on the page. ↩

  6. VoyageKC, “Conversations with Rakmila Shaiza,” 3 November 2021. URL — asserts: name form Rakmila Shaiza; stitchingchange.org; @stitchingchange on Instagram and Facebook; email rstitchingchange@gmail.com; immigrant founder; textile reuse and refugee collaboration. ↩

  7. Daniela Leon, “Kansas City, Kansas, nonprofit helping refugee women earn living 1 stitch at time,” KSHB, parsely date 15 August 2023. URL — asserts: KCK nonprofit; founder Rakmi Shaiza, U.S. in 2000 from northeast India; participants Sabitra Ramden and Abigail Ruta; products then sold at Ten Thousand Villages and Unique Gifts in Overland Park (2023 retail picture, not a 2026 address). ↩

See also

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/stitching-change · record updated 2026-08-31