"building the capacity of public media and technology organizations"
I keep telling myself to post a field report and then it gets pushed under the table, because like Claudia and others I have not found very much down-time! So I thought I'd go ahead and post some stuff I wrote up in my first few days with a few updates.
I guess I've been here two and a half weeks now; it feels so normal now that I'm wondering what to say about it.
I get the impression that my organization (the California Coalition for Rural Housing, CCRH) is very different from most of the others. We're a suite of offices rather than a community center, and I haven't yet had any contact with the population we serve. Scratch that; our audience is the affordable housing community, rather than individuals. We work with groups like other affordable housing nonprofits, town governments, lobbyist groups, and tenants' associations. So in terms of the people aspects of our work, sitting in on conference calls and going to meetings is where it's at (though hopefully I will be involved in some GIS trainings later in my service).
Comment from danielle martin on October 2, 2006 - 11:13am
Hey girl,
Great title! Makes my new "program coordinator" seem small and sad! ;)
-Danielle
Comment from Ben Sheldon on August 17, 2009 - 4:17pm
That's really cool (and smart) that you're starting small and really trying to target one particular community to build.
The Cable Access crowd is always a tough nut to crack. Because of their super-local focus, the majority haven't built a culture of sharing. And since their money comes from franchise fees (rather than donors) they focus more on political issues (since the fees come through the city and are regulated at the state and federal level) rather than developing community competencies. If you haven't already, talk to our VISTAs John Haffner at CMAP, or John Montgomery at Deproduction, since they are doing collaborative partnerships between Access Stations.
Don't get disheartened: it sounds like you've already done a lot!
Comment from Anne Jonas on August 17, 2009 - 4:26pm
Thanks, Ben! Actually, one of the places we're talking to is Medfield, so I think Jason was happy to hear I was part of DAScorps. I'm pretty optimistic about things, though it's kind of funny to see how there are such different cultures - we have a very tech culture at PCF, I think, and it's very different than the traditional nonprofit culture. It should be interesting!
By the way, do you know if Colin Rhinesmith's master's thesis on public access in the age of youtube is available somewhere? He seemed like someone you might know.
Comment from Claudia Escobar on September 1, 2009 - 7:53pm
Anne: If this was your first week, I can't wait to read what you have done in a month!