On the morning of March 20th 2024, C-CAP TEACH had its Winter Cohort Showcase. Students, community organization partners, faculty, friends, and family gathered to see the amazing work that was done over the past ten weeks. We had a great cohort this year, with nine students instead of six because the candidates were that good. These students were divided into groups of three to each partner with our community-based organizations: LibroMobile, Second Baptist Church, and VietRise. Each group presented their projects with detailed slideshows on Wednesday.
The LibroMobile group presented first. They helped Sarah Garcia, the founder, to create oral history and digitization tools to share with communities. LibroMobile is the only bookstore in Orange County that prioritizes books by people of color. These individuals, though, tend to not have access to the proper tools to record and share their stories. LibroMobile and the C-CAP TEACH students worked together to create resources to remedy this issue. The students last year created a bilingual zine for those who do not have access to computers. This cohort continued to translate that zine while also making a web tutorial video on creating oral histories. The video shows why oral histories are needed, where to get the technology to record these histories, and the steps involved. Sarah’s flexibility and guidance helped the students create a great, informative video in both English and Spanish. The students found this experience rewarding and loved empowering the local community. You can watch the video and see more digital history tools on LibroMobile’s website.
Next to present was the Second Baptist Church (SBC) group led by volunteer archivist Cynthia Fountain. SBC just celebrated their 101 year anniversary and have a long, rich history within the Orange County community. SBC is not just a church but a cultural center involved in equal justice for multiple cultures besides the African American community. SBC has a lot of history they want to preserve and share, and our students in this cohort helped them do that. The students received boxes of materials from SBC full of awards, newspapers, photos, and more. They created a list of categories that got more defined as they went through the materials. The students learned how to rehome the materials and keep them safe through proper storage. This experience taught the students about the technical aspects of archiving like what type of boxes and folders work best to preserve items. The students also developed a finding aid with QR codes to better navigate the archive they created. This project was enriching to the students, helping them learn to value cultural history and why collaboration with communities is important.
Last but not least to present was the VietRise group. Founded in 2018, VietRise is a non-profit organization in Orange County that focuses on issues such as immigration and housing through cultural empowerment and narrative change. Recently, VietRise helped the community come together to pass rent stabilization for older Vietnamese individuals living in Santa Ana and Westminster. The students documented this event by preserving materials and articles, with emphasis on Vietnamese language sources. To properly compile the right materials, the students studied the longer term history of Little Saigon in Orange County from back to the 1980s. Not only did they read histories VietRise provided, but the students also toured the actual sites in the area including the home parks that benefited from the rent stabilization act. In addition to compiling documents from the event, the students also conducted oral history interviews with community members of Santa Ana and Westminster. This taught the students the steps to recording oral histories, which they can use for projects in the future. These interviews were transcribed and added to the archived materials. The experience working with VietRise taught the students why community engagement is important, as it enables members to tell their own stories and have their voices heard. The students now know that archives can be used in the present, not just the past, and that it is necessary for communities.
C-CAP TEACH is so grateful to everyone who participated in these projects. Thank you to our partners and students. This work is so critical, and your help is what makes it possible. We are excited to announce that the work done during this cohort is not over – many of our students are staying next quarter to create exhibits about their projects. Stay tuned!
Written by Rivka Arbetter