December 27, 2009
Dear MS civil rights veterans, scholars, and friends, Looking to the opportunity of a new year, COFO Building, Inc. invites your involvement in the unique educational center contemplated for over a decade and soon to be a reality. Our view is that focusing on civil rights history will help clarify paths for present and future activists, and using the best of the Freedom School model of inclusiveness, critical thinking, and participation will mold citizens with the vision and resourcefulness to build a better world.
1017 John Roy Lynch Street in Jackson, the 1963-65 COFO state office, has been partially restored through a federal grant to Jackson State University. It will be developed gradually to help visitors experience its purposes and activities. We need your 1960s recollections of the office — or your technical expertise for possible holographic or robotic elements — or your insights into the types of educational programs needed for 21st century freedom strugglers. Whatever form of investment you can make will contribute toward a successful COFO Building educational center.
This fall, several JSU students took guided walking tours of some Lynch Street history, participated in our first three taped Conversations with local activist elders, and went door-to-door in University Park to meet the neighbors, introduce the project, and work toward a January meeting. While our core planning group in 2009 has included several 1960s veterans, as well as a professor and two master's degree holders in education, we want a larger team with a wide range of ages, experiences, and skills.
COFO Building, Inc. is seeking a staff of two plus consultants and volunteers to organize Conversations with civil rights veterans, always videotaped, sometimes by teleconference, as we work toward the capacity to schedule tourist programs. With the addition of two ADA-compliant restrooms, the modernized program space in the former Streamline Cafe building (1013 Lynch) is only about 19` x 25`, so we are proceeding realistically and modestly as we grow and benefit from input from more and more veterans, neighbors, students, and friends.
We invite those who will attend the March 24-27 conference of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement to sign up now to reserve places for pre- and post-conference Conversations in the COFO buildings on Wednesday, March 24, Saturday, March 27, and/or Sunday, March 28. And please let us know when you'll be in Jackson at other times so you can be part of what's happening at the educational center then.
See our brochure, and we'll send you our statement of Some Basic Principles on request.
We do need your financial support also. Contributions to COFO Building,
Inc., can be sent to
P. O. Box 1041
Jackson, MS 39215.
Please call us at 601-352-3398 about tax-deductible donations or questions you may have. We hope you'll join us in working for a great new year for all.
Jan Hillegas, Coordinator
COFO Building, Inc.
cofobuilding@hotmail.com
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Last Modified: December 29, 2009.
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