Wall Service Award 2015 Winners
Tracy Huling '77 and Brian Buckley '14
Huling and Buckley will use the award to support their organization, the Prison Public Memory Project (PPMP). In its pilot site in Hudson, N.Y., the program works with community members and collaborating scholars and artists to discover, preserve, interpret, and present the rich and complex history of the prison there, honor the memories of former prisoners and prison workers, and use the past to imagine a new future for the town when its historic prison closes. Funds from the award will be used to fortify the program already in place in Hudson, developing a permanent site of prison memory there, organized and directed by Buckley and to support the PPMP’s founder, Huling, as she expands the reach of the organization to other rural prison communities in the United States.
Alvin Irby '07
Irby, who lives in New York City, will use his award to expand his Barbershop Books program, which places child-friendly reading spaces in barbershops. The program will to improve black boys’ access to engaging books and increase the amount of time they read for fun. Creating reading spaces in 20 additional barbershops will enable Barbershop Books to reach 800 young male readers in two Brooklyn communities. By providing year-round access to culturally relevant, age-appropriate, gender-responsive children’s books in a traditionally male space, Irby hopes to help young black boys identify as readers.
Bryan Boyce '08
Boyce will fund his project, Cow Tipping Press, a program that teaches creative writing for adults with developmental disabilities and shares their work with a broad audience. The funding will be used to train five additional instructors in strategies for teaching diverse learners, reaching 75 students and publishing their writing for hundreds of readers in the first year. By offering an imaginative outlet, Boyce will provide a platform for society to hear people with developmental disabilities speak for themselves in a medium that is often used to speak about them
Learn more about the Wall Service Award and see other previous winners.