Notification

Our official email that we were one of the winning applications!

From: Stephanie Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 10:59 AM To: melanie Subject: Maine Community Heritage Project

May 30, 2008

Dear Melanie:

We are pleased to inform you that your team has been selected to participate in the first cohort of the Maine Community Heritage Project. You have assembled a great team, and we are thrilled to work with you!

There has been tremendous interest in the MCHP, and we received fifty applications from every corner of the state. While that response was thrilling, it also made the competition fierce and selection very difficult. In the end, the communities that were selected demonstrated great enthusiasm, a strong commitment to local partnership, and a clear understanding of the MCHP model. Selection also took into account the geographic, economic, and social diversity of the applicant pool and overall balance of the eight teams. As a group, these teams provide a diverse representation of Maine communities.

The MCHP will be an intensive, fun, rewarding year that will help forge or extend partnerships in your community, and create a rich website on the Maine Memory Network that shares your community’s history with a worldwide audience. You will be guided and supported through this process by two MHS staff members whose entire focus will be on the MCHP. Stephanie Philbrick, our Community Partnership Coordinator, will provide leadership, direction, training, and support. Kristie Littlefield, our School Partnership Coordinator, will assist in those areas, and provide extensive support to participating teachers and students. They will visit your community frequently to help you plan your projects and workflow, set priorities, carry out project activities, and develop your websites.

The project year will officially begin on June 27 with a required day-long orientation at the Maine Historical Society. Preliminary information about that is enclosed with the hard copy letter that we're sending out today. We are also enclosing a scheduling form that will be used to establish a regular meeting schedule for each community throughout the year. Your planning team will meet monthly with MHS staff to coordinate project activities, monitor progress, and discuss opportunities and issues that arise. These monthly planning meetings will cover a great deal of ground and be a cornerstone of the project.

Stephanie will be contacting you within the next week to discuss project logistics and the particular interests and dynamics of your team in more detail. Likewise, Kristie will be contacting your school partner to introduce herself and begin a conversation about how the MCHP might be integrated into the school’s curriculum and the logistics of school participation.

Finally, we ask that you please notify us right away of any significant changes to your team (e.g. staff changes) that might impact the project in your community.

Congratulations! All of us at Maine Historical Society are looking forward to working with you, and learning more about the history of your community.

Sincerely,

Steve Bromage Assistant Director