Update September 21, 2011

I'd like to thank Mary Visconti and Billy Brooks for inviting me to participate with BBF's Parent Advisory Council, and for allowing me to share our project updates with the group. The project was well received. We are appreciative of the resources BBF is bringing to the project, including staff time and in-kind donations. We are excited that Karen Reyes, one of the instructors, will use the project as an option for a student(s)'s project, if they so choose. She has also agreed to donate fabric swatches. I'd like to welcome Reneau Diallo to the project team. Reneau is a nurse midwife who grew up in the North Lawndale community, and graduated from Farragut High School. Her grandmother was the first African American woman to graduate from Austin High School. Reneau is a highly skilled quilter who has in years past coordinated the Quilting Pavilion at the African Festival of the Arts. She has experience with traditional quilting techniques, as well as with art quilts and precision quilts. She has agreed to assist us with making the quilts, and she will facilitate the workshop on Underground Railroad quilting. Valerie F. Leonard