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Youth Education Organizer

VISTA Name: 
Carrie Cook
Program Start: 
1/2008
Program End: 
7/2009
Project Description: 

Our AmeriCorps*VISTA member will help develop capacity for CDS ongoing educational work with classroom-based and after-school programs serving low income communities nationally and in the Bay Area and nationally. Some of their tasks will include:

a)Building the online capacity for workshops for CDS’ after school work in StoryMapping (see storymapping.org),

b)helping to develop the Youth Digital Storytelling Cookbook, handouts and curriculum materials, and

c)developing curriculum with workshops in collaboration with youth afterschool organizations emphasizing literacy, writing and technology including 826Valencia/826National and Youth Speaks.

Project Outcome: 

Carrie Cook Carrie has focused on developing our internal systems that support expanding services to low-income individuals. She has developed our tutorial for embedding digital stories in community maps and assisted with the development of digital stories for a Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based project supporting residents of low-income housing. She has also been involved with developing outreach materials for the silence speaks project and a blog for educators who are implementing skills learned in our workshops in their classrooms. The blog will allow them to more effectively utilize digital storytelling with their stories. In addition, she supported website development and local event organizing for the International Day for Telling Life Stories. She will also participate in strengthening our internal digital story archiving system.

Impact Quote: 

Both Carrie and Laura have demonstrated a collaborative spirit and have used their technical expertise to support our organization’s mission. In particular, their knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies is an asset to an organization in which staff have differing levels of experience with both newer web technologies. They are both invaluable in terms of training staff in how to use the technology and being able to offer ideas about the potential of the technology for improving our services. […] Carrie has utilized the knowledge base with which she came to CDS to strengthen our program structures and increase our resources and the effectiveness of our programs. She has been especially helpful in setting up new computers, creating a ‘storywalk’ tutorial and supporting the development of outreach materials.”
- Andrea Spagat, supervisor

Museum Outreach and Archiving

VISTA Name: 
Elisha Durrant
Program Start: 
1/2007
Program End: 
1/2009
Project Description: 

ONLINE HISTORY PROJECT COORDINATOR: Continue the development and expansion of TINCAN’s online history site – the Inland Northwest Memories Project; Work with neighborhoods and community organizations to utilize historical information for community identity; Train neighborhood and community organizations on gathering oral histories and preserving historical information in digital format; In collaboration with other TINCAN staff, link community and neighborhood history to other TINCAN community development efforts; Work with K-12 schools to promote utilization of the history site in the curriculum; Continue to develop and expand the Inland Northwest Memories volunteer base; Assist the Inland Northwest Memories project in developing and implementing a long-term sustainability plan.

Project Outcome: 

Elisha manages the Inland Northwest Memories project, an online history archive funded by Humanities Washington. This includes outreach, training, and writing, as well as fundraising and project development. In addition, she works with staff on other projects as needed.

Elisha trained 20 small community museums in the digitization of their collections. She developed a video on the importance of small museums in preserving community history, which has been shown at a number of sites. Elisha is also conducting a seminar series, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, to familiarize secondary school teachers with the events leading to the passing of women’s suffrage in Washington State. She has drawn in a number of new community partners for this project.

In light of Elisha’s success, we have decided to make her a member of our staff after her second year of service.

Impact Quote: 

Elisha has been invaluable to the growth and vitality of the Inland Northwest Memories project. She has found underwriters that will let us continue collecting veteran’s histories, and constantly discovers new sources of history that would otherwise be lost to the community. These primary source materials, when out online, will help our local schools fulfill the state’s ‘Dig Deep’ initiative that requires that students use primary sources in studying history.”
- Karen Michaelson, supervisor

Federated Search Engine of All NAMAC Member Organizations

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This is a ‘federated search engine’ built by former CTC VISTA, Morgan Sully. It performs a simultaneous search of all NAMAC Member organizations.

Check it out here: http://namac.org/federated-search-beta

Transmission Project