CENTRO receives an award from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to update online learning
The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College has received a $150,000 award from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to create a new educational experience for the Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassadors Program (PRHCA). This program is a free, self paced, multimedia online course on Puerto Rican history and culture based on CENTRO archival holdings.
Through the Public Engagement with Public Records Grant, CENTRO will migrate its online course to a new website and mobile application designed to make the ambassador program more accessible to a broad public, including high school students, college students and instructors.
“Our mobile-friendly website and application will not only serve as a resource for public engagement with historical archives, but will also be a model of collaboration to help minority serving institutions construct culturally sensitive digital tools,” said Yarimar Bonilla, Director of CENTRO. “With this award, CENTRO can diversify access to historical resources and promote archival literacy among underrepresented groups.”
As part of the project, CENTRO will collaborate with educational researchers to redesign the program’s curriculum, with web developers to craft a digital platform, and with multimedia artists to bring CENTRO’s collections to life through videos, illustrations and other multimedia resources. The plan of work entails eight phases and the initial assessment period is expected to take from February through July 2022.