Encouraging civic engagement
Deliberative Dialogues
A partnership between Elon University, the African American Cultural Arts and History Center, the Mayco Bigelow Center and Burlington Parks and Recreation, the Power + Place Collaborative strives to preserve and present stories from and about the people, places and moments of Alamance County’s Black communities. Since 2018, collaborators have digitally recorded the oral histories of more than 40 people to ensure future generations can learn from the experiences of their predecessors.
The digital stories participating students produce each year are presented at public screenings. The Power + Place Collaborative also facilitates educational workshops for K-12 schools, afterschool programs and college students; social media campaigns; walking tours; art exhibits; book clubs; intergenerational community dialogues and more.
The collaborative’s scope has expanded to include highlighting Muslim experiences. And in 2023, the collaborative was awarded a $10,000 grant from Impact Alamance and a $20,000 grant from North Carolina Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, that will allow its efforts to grow even further. Over the next two years, the collaborative will team with diverse faith-based partners from marginalized communities to organize a series of community engagement events for youth and community elders to exchange their experiences.