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Welcome to our e-newsletter
Minds in Motion
The summer is racing by! Take a moment to slow down with us. Hear how our alums are devising new ways to stay involved and get the latest recruitment news for the upcoming Class of 2015! Plus, Vivé and Amelia offer their summer reading picks, and Advisory Committee member Louise Sawaki shares her Free Minds origin story.
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What's New with Free Minds Alums?
What do you get when you combine a splash pad, a charcoal grill, and a book exchange? Summer fun, Free Minds style! In early June, Free Minds graduates and their families gathered over a potluck picnic to catch up and welcome the new 2014 graduates into their midst.
Free Minds' first annual reunion picnic kicks off a year of new ideas and new programming for alums. On July 7, a group of grads gathered to brainstorm fun new ways to build their community after graduation and to keep the conversation going. Together the group discussed everything from topics for future events to outreach strategies to connecting alums with current students. Among the wealth of ideas were activities that could include graduates' kids in the learning process, creating short video blurbs to publicize events, and establishing a core group of volunteer alums to support the current class through the challenges and triumphs of the coming year.
Thanks to all of the grads who made our summer events such a success. Stay tuned for upcoming fall events!
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Poolside Page Turners
Whether you're looking forward to hanging out poolside or indoors with the A/C going full blast, the season for summer reading is upon us! This month, Free Minds staff offers up a few ideas from our bookshelves to get you started.
Vivé Recommends:
 The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
Arguably the most acclaimed book of the past year (and winner of the Pulitzer Prize), this novel deserves all its praise. Long and sprawling, full of enchanting characters and far-flung locales, it's ideal for summer reading. I fell under its spell and once I finished, I was reluctant to start a new book and lose the feeling of being immersed in this one. At its core it espouses an idea very familiar to those of us who love Free Minds: that art connects us to the transcendent.
 Orange Is the New Black
by Piper Kerman
Last summer while recuperating from surgery, I binged on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, allowing the 13 episodes to distract me from my restlessness. This summer, in addition to watching season 2, I'm reading Piper Kerman's memoir on which the series is based. The real Piper is much more thoughtful than the TV one, and her book offers insight into the many failures of the prison system, as well as generous portraits of the women she met while serving time.
Amelia Recommends:
 A Small Place
by Jamaica Kincaid
Kincaid comes from Antigua, a small and, as she describes it, "too beautiful" island in the West Indies. In this book, Kincaid draws painful connections between tourism, colonialism, and the dysfunction of her country's government, making this the exact opposite of a light beach read. Still, the author's way of weaving in her own upbringing--such as when she would sneak out library books from the now permanently Earthquake-damaged library building in her home town--is truly captivating.
 The Holy Spirit of Life
by Joe Wenderoth
I stumbled upon this gem on a slow day browsing around half-price books, and I've gone back to it many times since then. Wenderoth is apparently better known as a poet, but I know him from this wide-ranging book of essays, which takes on everything from the raw politics of the post-911 moment, to succinct cultural analyses of The Andy Griffith Show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and my personal favorite, the Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Wenderoth can certainly be irreverent, and his ability to imagine the very familiar in new ways encourages readers to do the same.
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Recruitment Season for 2015 Class Wraps Up
For many months, July 7 has been circled in red on Free Minds calendars as the deadline to apply for the upcoming class. We are proud to report that with the help of dozens of community recruitment partners, we received 91 applications. Starting early last spring, staff and advisory committee members increased efforts to spread the word. We made presentations at parenting and GED classes, placed ads in local newspapers, visited FC properties all over the city, and littered Austin neighborhoods with red brochures and bookmarks.
On July 9, a committee of Free Minds staff, faculty, volunteers, and alums gathered over tacos to read and score applications. Interviews with qualified candidates will take place through the end of July, with final decisions being made by early August. Get ready to welcome the newest students this fall!
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Special Thanks
With our 2014 recruitment season at an end, we're indebted to all of the individuals and organizations that helped spread the word about Free Minds. Big appreciation to:
AAMB Harvest Foundation
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Any Baby Can Ascend Center for Learning Austin Area Urban League
Austin Free Net Austin Public Library
Breakthrough Austin Burnet Middle School Campbell Elementary School Child, Inc.
City of Austin Human Resources Department Communities in Schools Conspire Theatre Dress for Success
Garcia Middle School Goodwill Industries of Central Texas Housing Authority of the City of Austin KIPP Austin
Lee Elementary School Lifeworks Austin Mainspring Schools Maplewood Elementary School
People's Community Clinic SafePlace
St. Louise House Travis County Human Resources Department Truth Be Told UT Elementary School The Villager Newspaper
If you are interested in volunteering with or supporting Free Minds, you can find more information on our website.
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Minds in Motion Archive We're celebrating our remarkable Class of 2014 as they graduate Free Minds.
April 2014 Free Minds writers joined forces for a reading at Malvern Books, and a student-made video tells the story of class community.
Students dive into the world of field research and members of our community offer favorite reasons to amplify Free Minds!
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The Final Word
Advisory Committee Member Louise Sawaki on Becoming a Free Minds Fan
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Louise Sawaki (right) embraces HACA resident Samona Berry at Free Minds graduation, 2007
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Many people in my line of work believe that education is the golden ticket to help families move out of poverty. As a Coordinator at the Housing Authority of Austin, I work every day with individuals filled with enthusiasm to make a better life. They are hard working and highly motivated, most of them single parents who want to shape the aspirations of their children by example. I serve these families as participants in the Family Self-Sufficiency program (FSS), a HUD initiative aimed at helping families build economic sustainability. However, whenever I talk to my clients about college, many of them respond that they have given up after experiencing barriers early on. As time passes, and dreams of youth grow dim, some believe they are no longer "college material."
It was 2007 when I first became aware of Free Minds through Samona Berry. Samona had been a participant in FSS for a couple of years when I became her case manager. By the time we met she had been repeatedly frustrated by experiences with higher education. She came to believe that academia would make no room for a free-spirited artist such as herself. Yet I knew her as a bright, engaging, and committed community advocate. She enrolled in Free Minds, and she began to share her excitement with me. I became intrigued that this course could have elicited the effect which workforce and developmental classes had failed to elicit: a passion for new ideas, a reinvigorated drive to learn, and renewed aspirations. I began proselytizing Free Minds among my fellow case managers, clients, committees: a chance to awaken an intellectual identity through a yearlong course in the Humanities; totally free for participants!
Over the years Free Minds has been committed to reaching out to families living in HACA public housing. We have had some notable HACA graduates, including the recent president of the Citywide Advisory Board. In 2012, 20% of the program applicants were HACA residents. I am proud to say that I continue to serve Free Minds as a member of the Advisory Committee, nurturing the collaboration between our two agencies in support of the families we mutually serve. To the 2015 class, I encourage you to watch for those moments of discovery, of bursting forth, of realizing that the unimaginable is possible. And know that a world of ideas will open to you as you flex your intellectual muscles with ever increasing strength and confidence. This is just the beginning!
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A program of Foundation Communities, in partnership with The University of Texas at Austin and Austin Community College, Free Minds offers a two-semester college course in the humanities for Central Texas adults who want to fulfill their intellectual potential and begin a new chapter in their lives.
Free Minds Project
Foundation Communities
3036 South 1st Street
Austin TX, 78704
Project Director: Vivé Griffith Program Coordinator: Amelia Pace-Borah Ph: 512-610-7961 F: 512-447-0288
www.FreeMindsAustin.org |
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