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Multicultural Community Alliance records

 Collection
Identifier: LH-0062

Scope and Contents note

This collection consists of announcements, annual reports, brochures, clippings, grants, lists, maps, newsletters, photographs, press releases, surveys, and syllabi.

The materials in this collection document services provided by the organization which was known initially as the Brookwood Center and later, the Multicultural Community Alliance. Items such as announcements, brochures and newsletters offer specific information on the daily operations of the center. Also of particular note are data on Brookwood Apartment residents (see date-occupants) and survey results from the field questionnaire used in the Anthropology course.

Second accession consists of brochures and flyers, grant applications, newsletters, photographs, clippings, later Brookwood materials, and audiocassettes of recorded individual interviews.

Dates

  • 2000-2004

Creator

Conditions Governing Access note

Open to all users; no restrictions

Conditions Governing Use note

Rights transferred to the University of West Georgia Library.

Biographical/Historical note

The Multicultural Community Alliance served the Hispanic population in Carroll County and surrounding areas from 2000 to 2004. Initially known as the Brookwood Center for Outreach and Learning, the organization offered English language instruction, healthcare information, citizenship classes and a variety of events and activities.

During the 1990s, Carroll County’s Hispanic community experienced a sudden population boom. According to census data from 2000, the county’s Hispanic population grew more than 278 percent within the ten year period—accounting for nearly 3 percent of the county’s total populace. This rapidly increase in the Hispanic population presented Carroll County with a number of unique challenges. Faced with linguistic and cultural barriers, local government divisions, like the public school system and the health department, struggled to provide essential services for this continually growing immigrant community. In an effort to address these challenges, the Brookwood Project began.

Dr. Marjorie Snipes, professor of anthropology at the State University of West Georgia, and Suzy Montalto, who was then working for the Carroll County Education Foundation LIFT program which was affiliated with the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, founded the Brookwood Project initially to provide English language instruction and legal referral services to the Hispanic community.

As the organization evolved it began to offer citizenship classes, job skills training, as well as instructional Spanish reading programs for the non-literate. Soon after the project’s inception, the Carrollton Housing Authority donated an apartment unit at the Brookwood Apartments, a city-owned apartment complex housing the highest concentration of Hispanics in the county, to serve as the projects center for outreach and learning.

In 2000, Brookwood Apartment residents were the focus of a survey conducted through the State University of West Georgia course, Anthropology 3188 (Ethnographic Field Methods).

In July 2001, the Brookwood Center relocated to the Tracy Stallings Recreation Center in downtown Carrollton. Along with its new location, the center now became known as the Multicultural Community Alliance. Under the umbrella of Carrollton’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts division, the new name and location allowed the center to provide services to a much larger and diverse group of Hispanic immigrants from all over the county.

During the formation and implementation of Multicultural Community Alliance program, Dr. Elena Mustakova-Possardt, associate professor of psychology at the university, simultaneously began to develop Latinos United of Carroll County, a grassroots organization that grew out of the work done by both the Brookwood Center and the Multicultural Community Alliance. However, the Latinos United of Carroll County (LUCC) focused on community development and empowerment that stemmed from within the immigrant community itself and encouraged Latinos to develop a singular identity and voice within the larger community. By 2004, the LUCC became a self-sustained, Latino-run organization and the services once provided by the Multicultural Community Alliance were integrated into those offered by the LUCC.

2004 also saw the Carrollton Housing Authority’s closure of the Brookwood Apartments. The lot was eventually sold to the University of West Georgia, who tore down the buildings and in its place erected a community of fraternity and sorority houses known as the Greek Village.

Extent

1.22 Linear feet (2 boxes, 1 audiocassette box)

Language

English

Overview

The Multicultural Community Alliance served the Hispanic population in Carroll County and surrounding areas from 2000 to 2004. Initially known as the Brookwood Center for Outreach and Learning, the organization offered English language instruction, healthcare information, citizenship classes and a variety of events and activities.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Gift of Helena “Suzy” Montalto and Marjorie M. Snipes, November 2013. Second accession received as gift December 2017.

Processing Information note

Processed by Brian Crews in 2014. Second accession processed by Russ Lenox 2018.

Title
Guide to the Multicultural Community Alliance records LH-0062
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Finding aid prepared by Brian Crews.
Date
2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the University of West Georgia Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections, Ingram Library
University of West Georgia
1601 Maple Street
Carrollton GA 30118-2000 United States