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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 3, 2005
CONTACT:
Jody Swilky, Drake University, (515) 271-2853, jody.swilky@drake.edu
Kent Newman, Full Spectrum Productions, (515) 250-9459, fullspectrum@mchsi.com
Lisa Lacher, Drake University, (515) 202-1773, lisa.lacher@drake.edu
DRAKE RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF PERRY
Drake University has received a grant award of $15,000 from Humanities Iowa, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in support of a project called “A Little Salsa on the Prairie: The Changing Character of Perry, Iowa.” This funding will be matched by additional cash and in-kind contributions for a total project budget of $50,000.
This pilot project will use humanities perspectives to document the changes in the character of Perry, Iowa, and facilitate community-wide civic engagement and bilingual dialogue between diverse residents. The project will include two components:
• A documentary film that incorporates humanities theory and approaches to summarize the history of Perry, particularly immigration and ethnicity over time (part 1); portray and investigate the changes in the economy, society, and physical environment including Latino immigration, focused on the recent past and present (part 2); and document the process and outcomes of a community-wide bilingual dialog process focused on improving communication and collaboration between diverse residents (part 3).
• A community-wide dialog process sponsored by a Planning Committee in Perry including local government, faith community, business, schools, civic organizations and humanities scholars/advisers. A representative sample of diverse Perry residents will be recruited to participate in small group dialog with trained facilitators to discuss issues of immigration, diversity, and community, followed by a community forum to share outcomes. Groups will be in English and Spanish, allowing residents to address positive attributes and shared values; problems and concerns; resources and services; and specific ideas and recommendations for improving communication, participation, and collaboration to build a shared vision of the future of Perry. Bilingual facilitators will help share the outcomes at the forum in order to facilitate communication, strengthen connections, and improve policies and practices to address identified issues and shared goals for the future building on the positive attributes of cultural diversity.
The project will take place in 2005, and additional funds will be raised for completion of the documentary in the first half of 2006, to be aired later in 2006. The Study Circles Resource Center in Pomfret, Conn., will provide orientation and training of facilitators with a bilingual discussion guide, and the bilingual dialogue process will be evaluated and suggestions made for improvement for potential replication in other Iowa communities with major Latino populations.
The project director is Jody Swilky, a professor of English at Drake, who is working with Kent Newman, a consultant and independent writer/producer of Full Spectrum Productions in Des Moines. The project will build upon Swilky’s years of fieldwork and interviews of citizens with contrasting perspectives on cultural change in Perry.
In addition to Swilky and Newman, the members of the Planning Committee are:
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