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The Diversity Committee of the Chicago Law offices of Holland & Knight is hosting an event for Barrio in the windy city to celebrate the From the Barrio Foundation’s commitment to all of our youth in Illinois. The cocktail reception will take place at the firm on February 18th from 5:00 – 6:30 pm. Attending will be influential guests from Corporate America as well as political and educational leaders, and prominent leaders from Latino communities. We are honored to work with Holland and Knight in an effort to raise attention and financial support for our From the Barrio to the Classroom program. If you have not received your invite, and believe it is important for you and/or your organization to attend this intimate gathering, please contact us asap: Corey@fromthebarrio.com. Space is limited.

In 2009, Swedish Covenant Hospital donated books to Roosevelt High School where we piloted From the Barrio to the Classroom. This year they have stepped up to the plate again and helped us place books at Taft High School in Chicago. Nearly 200 students have participated in the program thus far and Robert will be addressing an auditorium of students on February 10th. The From the Barrio Foundation wishes to thank Swedish Covenant Hospital for recognizing the value of our program and assisting us in delivering it to help make a difference in the lives of our youth.

In January, Fred Morelli donated Barrio books to prisons in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties. Fred believes in Robert’s inspirational message that you can be anybody you want to be, that gangbanging and violence are not a lifestyle but a death-style. The future belongs to those who believe in themselves and Fred plans to work with Robert and the Barrio Foundation to help as many people as they possibly can to live productive and meaningful lives.

Weed & Seed Site Director Pam Bradley and Robert Renteria will be visiting a classroom at Waldo Middle School next week in Aurora, Illinois to interact and engage with students who have already read the Barrio book. Pam shares Robert’s passion and they have a mutual desire to inspire and motivate our teens and misguided youth to make better choices! They are currently collaborating together to introduce and implement From the Barrio to the Class Room into the Weed & Seed programs throughout the country. Thank you Pam Bradley for helping make a difference!

Nancy Bartosz, assistant principal at Westmont High School is one of those people that you thank the world for every day. Nancy has been emphatic about our program since the day she heard about it and has gone out of her way to ensure that the program was delivered to her students. Corey Blake had the opportunity to meet Nancy in person recently at Roosevelt University, where the two participated in an event for youth based initiatives. In February, Robert plans and is eager to visit Westmont and speak to their students.

In the last week, we’ve received curriculum requests from:

Santa Fe Springs, California
Milliken Colorado
Minden, Nevada
Plano, Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
Waukegan, Illinois
Houston, Texas
Midwest City, Oklahoma
Cicero, Illinois

Please join us in making a difference!

Both the Executive Director (Elba Aranda-Suh) and the Development Coordinator (Cheryl Wisniewski) for the National Latino Education Institute joined us for the Spanish book release.  Robert and I spoke with them again last week and were also joined by their Dean (Evelyn Santana). I am excited to say that they are piloting our program in two classrooms.

Everyone is planning for 2010 right now and that goes for Barrio as well. With more than 2,000 students participating in the curriculum this fall (and the FREE Curriculum still available!), now is the time to start thinking about next year and working with the From the Barrio Foundation to promote education, a sense of pride, accomplishment, and self-esteem within the youth of our communities. If you’re a school, a church , or a corporation with a community outreach program, contact Robert at robert@fromthebarrio.com; or Corey at corey@fromthebarrio.com and let’s make a difference together!