by Jock Lauterer
Co-Adviser, the Durham VOICE
As we launch this inaugural edition of the Northeast Central Durham Community VOICE, I need to thank a whole bunch of good souls who have made this moment possible:
• Mai Nguyen, assistant professor in the UNC-CH Department of City and Regional Planning and her graduate students Wendy Baucom, Steve Fabian and Hye-Sung Han (whose brainstorm led to the creation of the VOICE).
Yes! It's time to celebrate! VOICE Arts Co-Editors Praycious Wilson-Gay and Rosalia Preiss do a mid-air high-five at Seesaw Studio upon the completion of our summer photo exhibit. Photo by Jock Lauterer
• Jean Folkerts, dean of the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication, who has supported this project wholeheartedly from the get-go; and to grantwriter extraordinaire Jennifer Klimas Galina for helping craft our successful grant application. And special thanks to IT gurus Fred Thomsen and Jay Almers for talking me in off the ledge several times this week.
• Lynn Blanchard, director of the Carolina Center for Public Service, who, along with Ron Strauss, spearheaded the Faculty Engaged Scholars Program which spawned the Durham VOICE; and to Mike Smith, dean of the UNC School of Government, for his belief in our project’s vision. Also to Lucille Webb, director, Strengthening the Black Family, Raleigh, for her wise counsel.
• My counterparts and comrades-in-arms at North Carolina Central University, Bruce (DP) dePyssler, associate professor and Campus Echo advisor, and Lisa Paulin, NCCU assistant professor and Advanced Reporting instructor.
• Earl Phillips, Northeast Central Durham executive director, and Melva Henry, Northeast Central Durham community relations coordinator at the City of Durham Office of Neighborhood Improvement Services and Community Development; also Gwynn Silver and Constance Stancil.
• The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, whose grant enabled us to outfit our newsroom with laptops and cameras.
• The Board of Directors of The Daily Tar Heel and General Manager Kevin Schwartz who have pledged to support the printing of the VOICE in its first year.
• Andy Rothschild and the folks at Scientific Properties of Durham for their generous offer of newsroom/office space in the Golden Belt Campus.
• UNC students Carly Brantmeyer, Taylor Meadows and Caroline McMillan whose enthusiasm for the VOICE project has been contagious.
• Olivia Korman and Josh Dorsette of the Salvation Army Boys’ and Girls’ Club, for hosting our first summer photo workshops; Michelle Gonzales, executive director of Seesaw Studio, for hosting our second workshop; and Lucy Harris, Santos Flores and Kavanah Ramsier of SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc.) for hosting our third photo workshop and where this fall we will be conducting our urban youth oral history project.
• UNC-CH Kenan-Flagler Professor James Johnson, whose Union Independent School offers the VOICE a new and mutually-beneficial partnership.
• Also thanks to: Christopher Martin, founder and sparkplug of Brand Newz; William Schrader, Northern High School English teacher and school newspaper adviser; and the members of the Northeast Central Durham Leadership Council who wrote letters of support.
Onward and upward.
Jock Lauterer
director, the Carolina Community Media Project
and Durham VOICE co-adviser
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
213 Carroll Hall campus box 3365
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599-3365
919-962-6421
jock@email.unc.edu