Join us for an elegant afternoon of hors d'oeuvres and desserts as we recognize and award two extraordinary pillars of the Deaf community! 

Ella Mae Lentz, ASL Poet-Activist-Founder

A pioneering Deaf poet and co-creator of the acclaimed Signing Naturally curriculum.  Ella Mae has devoted her life to celebrating ASL as a language and art form, championing Deaf Culture, and advancing social justice for the Deaf Community.  She is one of several founders of the Deafhood Foundation, which later evolved into the Deafhood Institute. 

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Dr. Laurene Simms, Educator-Scholar-Advocate

A professor at Gallaudet University and founder of Deaf Women of Color, Inc., Dr. Simms is a nationally recognized leader in bilingual ASL/English education and a passionate advocate for Deaf children and communities of color.  She received a Deafhood Foundation grant to produce Climbing the Avalanche, a powerful video work celebrating Deaf identity and culture for Deaf Women of Color.