The Verizon Foundation
Making a Difference
The Verizon Foundation calls it "technology that touches life" when describing their commitment to improving education, literacy, family safety, and health care. With their recent grant to the VFH in support of the African American Heritage Program (AAHP), Verizon is making a difference in the work of the VFH and in the lives of students, teachers, heritage travelers and anyone with an interest in the African American experience in Virginia.
The grant provides funding for visual and content enhancements to the heart of the AAHP, its searchable database website. The AAHP database website currently includes more than 400 heritage sites representing most regions of Virginia and a fully searchable inventory of landmarks which are involved in the interpretation of African American history and culture throughout the Commonwealth. Grant funds have enabled a conversion of the current database into a more interactive format, and the addition of new dynamic pages, map illustrations, images, audio and video.
Christina Draper, AAHP Director, said,
"The grant from Verizon will allow us to create and develop multi-media components that will make this database website more useful and appealing to teachers, students, and heritage travelers. It should also help spark the interest of other individuals and corporate donors who have a commitment to, and interest in, preserving the rich contributions African Americans have made to Virginia’s history."
The two year project includes research on additional sites, and the creation of teacher resource materials, all provided at no cost to users. While K-12 teachers and their students are primary audiences, heritage travelers from within as well as outside of Virginia, and the general public interested in Virginia and African American history will also find the website database useful. Several new features have already been unveiled:
- More than 30 additional heritage sites;
- Interactive maps showing the location of heritage sites;
- Images of historic locations providing a visual reference for students and travelers;
- Related audio and video providing context and history of heritage sites;
- The “My Suitcase” feature allowing visitors to bookmark their favorite historic sites. Travelers can use this to plan a trip and teachers can use it to build classroom activities.
Steve Clementi, director of external affairs for Verizon, says,
"The goal of the Verizon Foundation is to utilize the power of technology to connect people. We're pleased to partner with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities on this worthwhile project. We view our grant as an important investment and are confident that it will deliver educational benefits to many people."
To explore the searchable database visit www.AAHeritageVA.org.
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