The Women's Leadership Council of Hot Springs has granted $8,000 to National Park College in support of its Sept. 13 presentation of Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine.
Brown Trickey's appearance is part of NPC's "We Belong" Guest Speaker Series and is in celebration of September's International Day of Peace.
As previously reported in The Sentinel-Record, the noon event will be held in the Martin Eisele Auditorium of the Frederick M. Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences.
According to her biography, Brown Trickey was one of nine African-American students who, in 1957, resisted opposition to desegregation and entered Little Rock Central High School with protection from federal troops.
A teacher, writer and motivational speaker, Brown Trickey served in the Clinton Administration as deputy assistant secretary for Workforce Diversity at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
For the past 10 years, she has been a nonviolence and anti-racism facilitator for Sojourn to the Past, a 10-day interactive history experience for high school students.
Her daughter, Spirit Tawfiq, who for 10 years served as chief of interpretation for the Central High School National Park Historic Site, will also attend the event, which is free to the public.
The Sept. 13 presentation is in keeping with WLC's mission "to empower girls and young women by awarding grants to schools and groups that have created programs designed to combat and address the obstacles that hinder their success."
The nonprofit organization, a component fund of the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation, was formed in 2015 by several local professional women and philanthropists who realized the need to bolster local resources that help young girls and women reach their highest potential through continued education, skills training and by developing their leadership qualities.
WLC has awarded more than $6,000 in grants to local schools and just recently distributed grant applications to local districts that are continuing or considering programs that inspire and guide young women.
Funds for the aforementioned grants were made possible in part by the council's series of luncheon and lecture programs that honored women of achievement, including Shirley Abbott, Hot Springs native and author of the iconic memoir, "The Bookmaker's Daughter"; Elizabeth Williams, Arkadelphia native and Tony Award-winning producer; and Neale S. Godfrey, author and founder, and chair of the Children's Financial Network. The Godfrey lecture was presented in association with the Women's Foundation of Arkansas and the Morris Foundation.
Monies from those events were added to funds endowed by gifts from Barbara Mahoney and the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation Board of Directors in honor of Ann Carrithers, who served as executive director of HSACF for 25 years. Carrithers is a founding member of the Women's Leadership Council.
Society on 09/09/2018