Please Support the Project, and here is HOW!

 

Voices and Visions is an oral history project that will teach skills to high school-aged Woodlawn residents - while they get paid - and bring generations together while crafting an authentic history of our community.

 

Voice and Visions will employ teen-aged students from the neighborhood to connect with elders to develop local histories that will be recorded and assembled into a library of local knowledge that will be available to the community. The young scholars will be trained in journalism practices, videography, and video editing, among other skills. The six-week program, which runs from June 24 to August 1, will culminate in an exhibition of the interviews and artifacts accumulated during the project, which will be designed and presented by the students.

 

The training and exhibition will take place at First Presbyterian Church, 6400 S. Kimbark Ave. Our other formal partner in this venture is HumanThread, a 501©3 organization that has successfully implemented after-school programs at Hyde Park Academy in the past. We have been receiving enthusiastic support from many other quarters and may be announcing additional formal partnerships soon.

 

To make Voices and Visions all it can be, we need your support.

 

Currently, our sole source of funding is an After School Matters grant, which will allow us to pay 30 students to participate in this project. We may receive additional funding but are also counting on support from you, our neighbors. Our budget is only partially met by the ASM funding, which primarily provides funding for stipends for students, modest instructor salaries and very little for equipment. Our requirements in order to provide a first-class experience to our students far exceed the few hundred dollars provided by ASM. We have launched an online crowdfunding effort and hope you will all participate. Please pledge whatever amount you are comfortable with – every donation helps! We are also in the process of identifying as many sources of direct equipment donations as possible and would appreciate any assistance you can provide in that area.

 

In addition, we are hoping that as many members of the community as possible can volunteer to work in support of our program. There is a lot to do, and not just in the classroom. There are many areas where an extra pair of hands would really make a big difference. We plan on providing field trips and other outside-the-classroom activities where we could really use some extra chaperones. Visit our website, peaceinwoodlawn.org, to sign up for volunteer opportunities.

 

Finally, we need participants – students and elders. Please encourage young people you know to contact us to sign up and to provide us with contact information for suggested elders to interview. You can reach us at voices@peaceinwoodlawn.org or reach out to any one of us individually.