ROSA Workshop report

For those of you who were unable to attend the ROSA (Reaching Out to Spanish-Speaking Audiences) workshop on Friday, November 16, 2007, at the E. G. Fisher Public Library in Athens, you missed a FABULOUS workshop!

Kathyn (Kathy) Pagles, Director of the Blount County Public Library (Maryville, TN), presented an introductory workshop on developing services and programs for the rapidly-growing Spanish-Speaking population of our region. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and WebJunction as the Spanish Language Outreach Program, this was the first of a series of workshops that will be held across the state of Tennessee between November, 2007, and March, 2008.

Kathy received "training-the-trainer" training in Seattle in October, along with three other trainers from Tennessee. Their job is to return to Tennessee to "spread the word" about how to build relationships with leaders of the Latino/Hispanic community, how to identify their needs, and how to develop a plan of action to provide the needed services and programs.

Did you know that the Spanish-Speaking population is now the largest minority in the United States?

Excellent workshop materials, activities, handouts, and resources were provided by the WebJunction program. For those of you who were unable to attend, these materials may be found at: http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=8122 . Unfortunately, all the excellent discussion and idea-sharing could only be accessed by attending the workshop on Friday.

For more information about the WebJunction Spanish Language Outreach Program, check out their community at: http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=10555

We would like to thank Kathy Pagles, for her excellent workshop delivery. We appreciate her time commitment to attend the training in Seattle in October, as well as her provision of three workshops in East Tennessee. If you were unable to attend the November 16 workshop, your next chance to participate in this important training will be on January 31, 2008, at the Pigeon Forge Public Library.