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Building Capacity for Change
» College of Humanities and Sciences
In 2007, VCU’s School of Mass Communications created an interactive Web site for Greater Fulton Hill, a cluster of low-income, ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Richmond’s East End. 
Partnering with the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton Hill, the school also established a citizen journalism training academy to teach Fulton Hill residents how to use new media technology to report news online and tell stories for and about their community. With a grant from the Knight Foundation’s New Voices program, the school purchased still and video cameras, audio recorders and other equipment for the project.
Since the site’s creation, hundreds of articles, photos and comments have been posted to the Greater Fulton News Web site on subjects ranging from neighborhood heroes and youth programs to cultural events and lost pets. The news blog has inspired residents to tackle such problems as crime, blight, a declining sense of community and a lack of safe activities for children.
The Fulton Hill Web site has received national publicity and local acclaim. “It has enabled neighbors of all ages to communicate and share information in a totally new way,” said Bridgette Huff, a Fulton Hill community leader.
Get involved
To support this program or get involved as a volunteer, contact Deb Halpern Wenger at dhwenger@vcu.edu.