Motheread/Fatheread® is a family literacy program developed by Motheread, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Raleigh, NC, that promotes literacy for individuals and families in marginalized or underserved segments of local communities throughout the United States. In 2000, the Guam Humanities Council became an affiliate of Motheread, Inc., and established this specialized program to improve literacy on our island.

Motheread® combines teaching literacy skills with child development and family empowerment issues. Trained facilitators from partner organizations work directly with participants in small class settings and use a literature-based curriculum that draws upon child development themes. Throughout the 15-week program parents develop important literacy skills in the context of their family lives, and learn to share stories and themes with their children. Motheread® also teaches critical thinking while inciting a love for reading, improving quality of family time, and expanding social competency skills. Motheread® has been offered to the people of Guam specifically to help incarcerated individuals, economically disadvantaged individuals and their families, and recent immigrants who have limited English language proficiency. The Council plans to expand the literacy program to include the nationally recognized BABY (Birth and Beginning Years) program that will target teen pregnancy and teenage mothers.

For more information on the Motheread® program on Guam, contact Cathy Flores, Motheread® Coordinator, at cathy_ghc@teleguam.net, or at 472-4468.

Community Grants Program

The Council awards small grants (ranging from $500 to $10,000) to community-based organizations to plan and implement a wide range of humanities projects, including interpretive exhibitions, oral histories, film workshops and discussions, language preservation projects and publications. This is a long-term Council effort to make the humanities more relevant and accessible to a broad and diverse public, and to build capacity within other nonprofit cultural organizations.

For grant guidelines, application and information, contact Monaeka Flores at monaeka_ghc@teleguam.net.

Community Grant Sample Projects

• Echoes of Heritage: Growing Up Ethnic and Multicultural (2004)
• A 6-tower panel exhibit featuring aspects of inter-/intra cultural conflict on Guam, including religious conflict, military-civilian conflict, and conflict between Chamorros raised on Guam or Chamorros raised elsewhere who returned to Guam to live or visit.
• Oral History of Guam’s Early Jazz Musicians/Artists (2004)
• Project that included interviews of early jazz musicians/artists on Guam. Features a DVD of the interviews and pictures in booklet form, as well as a series of exhibit panels that were displayed during the Jazz Appreciation Month 2004 concert.
• Just Left of the Setting Sun: A Collection of Chamorro Prose (2005)
• This project entailed the research and development of the content for a publication aimed at elevating critical consciousness among the Chamorro people (with an emphasis on youth) through exploration of questions about Chamorro identity—who are we and where are we going? This analysis raised questions about what the Chamorro people as an indigenous people, value, especially in the sociopolitical climate of globalization as neocolonialism and assessed if there is indeed a collective experience of social praxis (theory and action) emerging with the conversation among cultural practitioners in Guam , such as those in the artist and activist communities.
• Lola’s Lessons: Educating and Inspiring Guam’s Children (2005)
• Children’s book about a little girl who was adopted by a Chamorro family and raised in Guam. The books from this project were distributed to several elementary schools and libraries on Guam. In addition, public readings to read and discuss the book and the cultural issues were brought up. Discussions encouraged young children to start writing their stories, too.
• The Insular Empire: America’s Pacific Frontier (2001-2007)
  • One-hour documentary about America’s Mariana archipelago. Profiling four islanders from Guam and the CNMI, the film conveys to a national audience, the history of the Marianas—and the islands’ long, complicated relationship with the US. This project was for the post-production phase.
• Reflections of Our Youth (2006)
  • This project was meant to inspire public awareness and action toward improving youth services on Guam, by increasing dialogue, sharing information and exploring the diverse cross-cultural and cross-generational experiences throughout our community. Additionally, the project encouraged a deeper appreciation for youth development and public consciousness and insight of the experiences of various ethnicities, socio-economic levels and cultures that vary within each generation present in Guam. The final product included a traveling photo exhibit, accompanied by a discussion guide, and an interview documentary.
• Films for Youth Workshop (2006)
  • This project received a minigrant to conduct a workshop for young people from the Department of Youth Affairs, to learn some basics of story development and hands-on experience with film production. The resulting short film, “Who stole the Kelaguen?” was presented during GHC’s anniversary series, “Envisioning the Pacific” in 2007.
• New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibition Tour Venue/Host Organization Planning and Implementation (2006-7)
• The History of Jazz on Guam (2007)
• The History of Band Music on Guam (2007)
• Palauan Music: A Life of Song and Dance (2007)
• Chamorro Roots Music (2007)

For more information about Museum on Main Street or the local MoMS tour on Guam, contact Dominica Tolentino, Program Officer and local coordinator for MoMS, at dominica_ghc@teleguam.net.

Guampedia, Guam’s Online Encyclopedia

Guampedia is an online scholarly encyclopedic resource about Guam. The Council created this free digital resource in collaboration with the University of Guam, the Guam Preservation Trust and other community partners. There are 18 subject areas in Guampedia, of which about 85% is humanities content covering areas of history, anthropology, religion and other cultural information. About 15% is science-based, including entries about natural resources and Guam’s economy. Guampedia entries cover a wide range of topics about Guam, all of which are written by scholars or experts in the field, peer-reviewed, and edited through a rigorous editorial process. Guampedia features articles, maps, videos, sounds, and historical and contemporary images about a variety of subjects such as legends of Guam, Chamorro cultural practices, history, demography, politics, native plants and animals, weather patterns and environmental issues. Guampedia will be updated periodically with new entries, photographs, lesson plans and media materials, and promises to be of value for anyone around the world interested in learning more about our island, the experiences of the Chamorro people, and the diversity of cultures that have made Guam their home.

Guampedia officially launched in April 2008. To visit Guampedia, go to http://www.guampedia.com.

Cultural Workshops and Performances

Guam is an island with a rich history, a distinct cultural heritage embodied in the indigenous Chamorro, and a diverse and multiethnic population. There are different needs and interests, but the overarching goal of the Guam Humanities Council is to enhance the intellectual, civic and cultural life of Guam. The Council is dedicated to offering the best of the humanities to the entire Guam community, making the humanities accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

Since its founding in 1991, the Council has conducted several cultural workshops and performances in a variety of formats. In 1996, the Council presented Stories of the Pacific, a series of lectures and presentations that celebrated the cultures of the Pacific through storytelling, books, and film. From 2002-2007, the Smithsonian Institution’s Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) became a regular part of the Council’s programming. JAM developed into a community endeavor, with the Council partnering with different local organizations and artists to organize workshops for high school students, jazz socials, and culminating in a public concert showcasing local jazz artists. In 2006, the Council celebrated its 15th anniversary with Writing the Pacific: Albert Wendt Comes to Guam. Professor Wendt, a renowned Pacific scholar and author, conducted literary workshops for high school and university students, appeared in local media and intimate settings to discuss his life work, and finally, shared the stage with local writers from Guam at the Council’s gala dinner. At the end of 2006, the Council organized the premier of the film Polynesian Power: Islanders in Pro Football in partnership with Pacific Islanders in Communications. A discussion with the film’s director, Mr. Jeremy Spear, was held after the film to a crowd representative of Guam’s multicultural community. Over the next five years the Council will continue with and expand on this kind of programming, which will include our plan to bring to Guam in 2008 the Pacific Islands dance troupe, Black Grace.

NEH We The People Grant Project

The We the People Grant is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that is designed to enhance the teaching and understanding of American history through grants to teachers, scholars, museums, libraries, filmmakers, and other individuals and organizations. We The People grants make possible a wide range of quality humanities projects.

Since 2004 the Guam Humanities Council has participated in this initiative, receiving four separate NEH We The People Grants. In 2004 the Council marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Guam from Japanese occupation with the multifaceted project, Families Under Siege: Stories of Family Life in Japanese Occupied Guam. In 2006, the Council received a grant to produce a film documentary and photo exhibit for a project entitled, Remembering Camp Roxas: The History of Filipino Americans in Guam. The Camp Roxas project documents the lives and experiences of the initial Filipino immigrants to Guam following World War II. The Council’s Guampedia online encyclopedia project has also received two We the People grants for research and completion of entries covering religion on Guam and the early American period from 1898-1938. As an unincorporated territory of the United States since 1898, Guam’s place and importance in American history is often overlooked. While US citizenship was granted to Guam residents with the passage of the Organic Act of 1950, many in Guam’s population are naturalized American citizens. The We the People Initiative has helped the Council develop projects that present the perspective of Guam’s people as well as a context from which to view Guam’s history as American history.

Resource Center

Housed at the Council’s office in Hagåtña, the Center provides resources for those interested in conducting humanities programming in their communities. To ensure that quality humanities programs are accessible to a broad public audience, products created and developed in the Community Grants Program and through special projects, such as publications, videos/DVDs of film projects, traveling exhibits and discussion guides, are made available on a lending basis. Over the next five years, the Council plans to acquire new materials for the Resource Center beyond the grant program materials, which will be largely focused on Pacific Islands histories and cultures. For more information about the Resource Center, please contact Monaeka Flores at monaeka_ghc@teleguam.net.

"Good Offices"

The Council’s role is to serve as an honest, impartial broker in educating and informing the Guam community about important and timely issues facing our island. To best fulfill this role, the Council will convene conversations, host capacity building sessions and present a distinguished lecture series.

In early 2007 we began this programming initiative by convening a conversation about Pacific Islander filmmaking with playwright, filmmaker and scholar Dr. Vilsoni Hereniko, and film producer and Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) founder, Jeannette Paulson Hereniko. We are also planning to host a community capacity building workshop in September 2007 with John Matthews. Over the next three years, the Council plans to convene conversations and present distinguished lectures around the important issues of the impending military expansion, developing cultural tourism, the migration to Guam of Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) citizens, and cultural preservation and museums.