2016 RCP Progress Report
TOP STORIES FROM 2016
Organization Updates
501c3 Status
Our biggest and most exciting news is also our most recent - the Rich Coast Project was approved for 501(c)(3) status! This means we are now a federally tax-exempt organization. Thank you to everyone who has been involved so far in this project, and especially to our financial supporters who have kept us going as we build the organization and create opportunities for community participation.
Please consider making a year-end donation to ensure our work can continue into 2017 and beyond!
New Partnerships
We expanded our service learning program to include the Indiana University Media School and the University of Costa Rica. Both institutions decided to create new opportunities for their students by partnering with the Rich Coast Project and supporting our efforts to create original content for the South Caribe Roots Archive that documents the history, identity and rights of the people of coastal Talamanca.
We were also grateful to receive the support of Wreally Studios, who graciously sponsored our use of their Transcribe software for a second year. Finally, our collaboration with Narrative 4 allowed us the opportunity to share stories with a diverse group of South Caribe residents during our November service learning trip with IU Media School students.
Website Updates
The Rich Coast Project website got a facelift this year. We migrated to Squarespace in order to give our visitors a better viewing experience and to integrate features that will allow us to make our work more accessible to interested audiences. We are continuously working to improve our communication, to make the collections of the South Caribe Roots Archive more accessible, and to create easy opportunities for participation. Stay tuned for big advances on this front in 2017!
Program Updates
South Caribe Roots Archive
Over the past year we continued collecting stories and photographs from South Caribbean residents. We shared the historic photogaph collections through our website, during community events like the Puerto Viejo Chocolate Festival, and at an ongoing public gallery at the Casa de la Cultura in Puerto Viejo. We visited homes and farms to conduct interviews, and supported a storytelling event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Limón earthquake.
Service Learning Program
2016 was a great year for the Service Learning Program. We continued our partnership with the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, hosting students from the Alternative Break Program for second year. We also spent time in Indiana developing a new partnership with the IU Media School, which joined us in Puerto Viejo in November for their inaugural international service learning trip during which they helped us produce a series of podcasts with local story facilitators. We also began another new educational partnership with the University of Costa Rica, who will be sending students to Puerto Viejo in January 2017 for a participatory documentary project with local high school students.
Wellness Traditions Documentation
This year we continued our ongoing collaboration with the Hidden Garden Wellness Center, consolidating our joing efforts into the Caribe Sur Wellness Traditions Documentation Project. We joined the Latino Herbal Medicine Intensive course hosted by the Hidden Garden in March and September for two prototype projects aimed at documenting local traditional use of medicinal plants: Stories of Healing and Bush-Fah-Story.
