The story starts with Black Females at Conway Middle School, which is in Southwest Jefferson County.  The Student Population is 811.  Ethnic Breakdown is 49% White; 37% Black; 7% Hispanic;  6% Other.  Of these students 71.6 % receive free & reduced lunch.

According to the Conway Middle School Racial Equity Improvement Plan, Black female students have reported feeling less cared for and less supported than any other subgroup.  More specifically, Black girls represent 27.8% of the overall behavioral referrals compared to 8.7% of White girls. The disproportionate numbers was a great concern.

Ms. Bridgette Jones, Family Youth Services Center Coordinator, Louis Milligan 4-H Agent, and myself began a collaboration to help these girls feel a sense of wholeness.  We would meet with a specifically selected girls once a week for a hour at a time. The class/club would teach the girls some life skills.  We started off with simple hand sewing, the girls learning about fabric, measurements, hand needles and thread.  Each young lady got their own sewing kit, along with a retractable tape measure.  They were taught how to thread a needle, and some basic hand stitches.  After a couple of weeks we decided let them make "no sew" fleece hats. 

It would involve being paired with someone they may not know and working together to make a fleece hat.  As they worked on their hats, not only were they using math skills to measure and cut the fleece, they were talking to each other and to us.  We would soon learn that some of them couldn't read very well, after being given the written instructions, which they couldn't follow to complete a hat.  Being a visual learner myself, I found step by step picture instructions.  Being able to see helped them to understand the concept and to finish about 12 hats over 2-3 weeks.  

They felt good about what they had created, first with a partner and then on their own.  Their self esteem was heightened by starting and completing a hat.  One young lady wanted to make a hat for her grandmother that was battling cancer.  Another one wanted to make one for her little sister.  They were thinking of others, not just themselves.  In the end the group decided to donate the other hats to one of the homeless shelters.  Ms. Jones told us that the girls' grades had improved and they had fewer behavioral referrals, they liked coming to our class.  

We were scheduled to work with these same young ladies til the end of this school year, but due to COVID-19 our time was shortened.  Who knows what other skills they may have learned, while learning what they could accomplish?   

Louis "Jenie" Carter, Interim FCS Agent