I hope you had a meaningful MLK Day yesterday! We are proud that our very own Alecia Brooks was honored yesterday at the 1st Annual Stride Toward Progress Bell Ringing and Awards Ceremony here in Iowa City. Royceann Porter, 2014-15 African American Achievement Award Recipient, took it upon herself to publicly acknowledge the hard work and spirit of service among black leaders in Iowa City. She identified over 150 community members to honor! We prepared certificates of acknowledgement and gratitude and Royceann worked with a local vendor to get T-shirts for all of the award recipients. It was inspiring to meet so many committed Iowa Citians!
Meanwhile, at West Wind, rather than send holiday cards in the mail, we carried on our tradition of sending an electronic greeting to our friends and colleagues–only instead of a New Year’s greeting, we sent our greeting this year on MLK Day. We donated what we would have spent on postage to support Royceann’s local MLK Day reception, as well as to provide a small donation to the Ferguson, Missouri, Public Library. When we talked as a staff back in December about the upcoming year, we all agreed we were inspired by the spirit embodied by the Ferguson library staff when they stayed open to serve their youth following the Michael Brown grand jury decision. We thought their sentiments were powerful:
We will do everything in our power to serve our community.
Stay strong and love each other.
Please join us in 2015 to strive toward progress and racial equity, using empathy and compassion as our guide.
Best wishes for 2015 and beyond from all of us at West Wind Education Policy Inc!
Circe, Alecia, Bonnie, Kathy, Mandi, Sally, and Tina