Good evening to you all. I am enjoying the wonderful introductions as they come in, and join in here with my own.

My name is Kit Collins. I am currently Executive Director of the Center for Educational Design and Communication (CEDC) here in Washington DC, where I have been engaged primarily in social justice projects with small under-resourced nonprofit organizations for the last fifteen years. CEDC's project partnerships focus on change strategies through the integration of learning, leadership, and organizational effectiveness, and through implementing communication technologies in support of positive social change. Our tools run the gamut from process design and consultation to Web site development, graphic design, multimedia production, video production and conference hospitality. Our issues range from housing, networked learning opportunities, empowerment of grassroots women's groups and youth development, to affordable internet-based communication systems for schools, social justice entities and religious communities at the national level and beyond. We are a small operation - with big hopes.

I have been associated with the Morino Institute since 1993 in an advisory capacity, and had the good fortune to be part of the Institute's Team for the Youth Development Collaborative Pilot project over the last few years. My experience prior to CEDC was strongly rooted in teaching and school administration, as well as staff development and leadership consultation in the United States and numerous counties across the globe.

If nothing else, I have learned over the years that social change at a systemic level is an enormously difficult undertaking that can be solidly grounded only in deep convictions, shared and optimized resources, and the energy to commit to the long haul. I think we have a terrific opportunity in this era to begin to bridge the human divide if we can bring social imagination and ingenuity as well as the powerful support of technology to the effort.

I really look forward to what this exchange among us will bring.

<<To previous post | To next post>>
Back to summary