Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Just Announced Their New Project — and It's Got Royal Inspo

Mar. 15, 2025

Meghan MarkleandPrince Harryhave unveiled a new key program through their Archewell Foundation.

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

There are currently 11 active Welcome Projects across the U.S. “designed to foster a sense of belonging” through activities including sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling and cooking.

Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty

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

Shedding light on progress at the Welcome Project so far, the Impact Report outlines that 98.8% have made a meaningful relationship or friendship, 97.7% have boosted their sense of social connection and decreased loneliness and 98.8% agree their culture and lifestyle have been welcomed and treated with respect.

During the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s visit to ajoint military basein New Jersey on Veteran’s Day in 2021, Meghan connected with women from displaced Afghan families living there and learned that they needed a place to build community, cook and spend time together.

Joshua Sammer/Getty

Harry and Meghan began brainstorming from there, and the Archewell Foundation partnered with Team Rubicon and Welcome.US to find a way to help families navigate the challenges of resettling in the U.S.

After hearing repeatedly about the “intense social isolation women in particular were experiencing,” the Archewell Foundation launched The Welcome Project this year. With its focused programming, the venture brings access to critical resources, educational opportunities, workforce development, employment, and entrepreneurship, the report states.

“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,” it says.

In a full-circle connection to the Hubb Community Kitchen, the report also revealed that the Welcome Project uses food to bring people together. Beyond each focused project, “Welcome Dinners” are held to bring participants together over a meal.

In 2018, the Duchess of Sussex was instrumental in the release ofTogether: Our Community Cookbookafter cooking with a group of women who suffered after theGrenfell Tower tragedyat the Hubb Community Kitchen. Meghan wrote the foreword for the collection of 50 recipes, and a portion of the proceeds benefitted the community cooking space.

Meghan Markle at the Hubb Community Kitchen in 2018.CHRIS JACKSON/AFP via Getty

The Hubb Community Kitchen was formed at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in London in 2017 to provide a community support network for survivors of theGrenfell Tower tragedy. That June, a blaze tragically ripped through the 24-story apartment building in West London and killed 72 people.

Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage?Sign up for our free Royals newsletterto get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

During herfirst visitto the community kitchen in January 2018, the Duchess of Sussex learned that the women there were only able to use the space twice a week due to funding. Inspired, she was instrumental in the release ofTogether: Our Community Cookbooklater that year, with a portion of the proceeds going towards the cause. Kensington Palace said the profits would help the kitchen open for up to seven days a week and widen its community reach.

Meghan Markle at the launch of Together: Our Community Cookbook in 2018.Ben Stansall - WPA/Getty

“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,” Hubb Community Kitchen coordinator Zahira Ghaswalatold reportersat the time. “She tasted some of our menus, and she asked me, ‘Let’s make a cookbook.’ ”

Meghan wrote the foreword for the collection of 50 recipes, and the project made a splash as her first major solo charity project as the Duchess of Sussex following her royal wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.

The Duchess of Sussex has stayed in touch with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen since, from hopping on avideo callfrom her California home in 2020 and sending avoice messageon the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire last year.

source: people.com