Connection, Community & Care in Action
One of the most meaningful outcomes of our recent Connection, Community & Care gathering was seeing how the relationships formed through the Adult Education Center continue to ripple across generations.
In a wonderful example of those connections, Verite News reporter Tammy Barney attended the event and interviewed Adult Education Center graduates Joyce Numan and Merial Hall, both members of the Class of 1970. The resulting article highlighted their remarkable journeys from the Adult Education Center into professional careers and captured the enduring impact of a school that helped open doors previously closed to Black women in New Orleans.
What makes this story especially meaningful is that Tammy is the daughter-in-law of Clarence Barney, the longtime Urban League leader who was one of the Adult Education Center's strongest supporters. Clarence hired AEC graduate Mary Andry, who went on to build a distinguished career with the Urban League, serving the organization and its mission for more than three decades. Today, Mary's granddaughter, Nicole Andry, is a 431 Exchange scholarship winner—creating a remarkable thread that connects the original Adult Education Center to the scholars we support today.
These are the kinds of relationships that remind us that education is never just about a classroom. It is about people investing in one another, building opportunity, and carrying forward a legacy of care.
The article, the graduates, the Barney family, the Andry family, and our scholars all reflect the same truth: when people come together in the spirit of connection, community, and care, the impact can last for generations.
Thank you to Tammy Barney and Verite News for helping preserve and share these important stories.