Community Outreach

4th of July Celebration at Centennial Park

The Santa Ana team spent Independence Day mapping migrations and capturing stories of our community members. Here is a short video of our booth, produced by our CTV3 department.

As with our previous event, we had an information table, a mapping migration station, and a photo booth area. We made some slight modifications to our setup and activities. 

Information Table and Booth Set Up

What worked:

• At this particular event, we had a large enough space to spread out our activities. We set up three canopies, one for the information table, one for the mapping station, and one for the photo booth area. This large set up was nice, because it allowed many people to interact with us without being too crowded.

What didn't work:

• We were battling with intense wind throughout most of the event. Unfortunately, our acrylic sign displays were continuously blown over. We ended up putting water bottles on the backside of the stands to keep them up. 

Mapping Migration Stories

What worked:

• For this event, we decided not to use the 6.5ft x 4ft map we originally used, because it was just too large. Instead, we brought a smaller world and a map of the United States. The maps were large enough for many people to pin their stories, but small enough to not require extra tables. Both maps fit on the tops of two tables.
• The map of the United States made it much easier to pin the migrations of our community members who have migrated within the country. Through this, we identified a key migrant community that we would like to track, Military Families. 
• We created a Santa Ana,CA/Orange County flag attached to a dowel, which was able to withstand the pulling of the strings being wrapped and tied around it.. This was much more effective than the pin we had used at our first event. 

What didn't work:

• We tried using the name flags to label each individual migration, but the wind made it difficult to keep them attached. We stopped using the flags about half way through the event. 
• We began to notice that the thickness of the yarn we were using made it difficult to see the locations and map below. In the future, we will use thinner string. 

Photo Booth

What worked:

• The photo booth was a success. People enjoyed participating and sharing their stories. 

What didn't work:

• There weren't really any issues with the photo booth at this event. We were under a canopy, so the lighting was a little bit of an issue, but we were able to correct the photos by using the flash on the camera. 
• We are still trying to find a solution to the short backdrop problem. 

The 4th of July event was a great success for us! Many people signed up to come in for interviews or to get involved with our Teen Community Historians program. Click here to view more photos from this event.