The Peace Corp’s Vision for Global Literacy - July 18 at the Orange Innovation Center

Joanie Cohen -Mitchell Peace Corp Literacy Soecialist

The Peace Corp’s Vision for Global Literacy - July 18 at the OIC

Joanie Cohen Mitchell will present a talk and slide-show on the “Peace Corp’s Vision for Global Literacy” as part of "An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells" scheduled for Thursday, July 18 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm on the third floor of the Orange Innovation Center, 131 West Main Street, Orange, MA.  

After serving for 28 years as an Early Childhood Teacher Trainer Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Haiti and Paraguay, Cohen-Mitchell was offered a position at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington DC as the agency's Literacy Specialist.  Her talk will offer a first hand look at this important global initiative.

As the Peace Corps Literacy Specialist, Cohen-Mitchell collaborates with USAID to support their Education Strategy Goal 1 - to have all children reading by 2015 by supporting Peace Corps posts in Africa, InterAmerica and Pacific and Europe and to collaborate with the Global Partnership for Education and other non governmental and governmental organizations working in literacy and early grade reading.

Teaching literacy in Africa

According to Joanie, her mandate includes setting a vision for literacy for the Peace Corps across the globe as well as developing the agency's overall framework for early literacy and early grade reading programs.  The Peace Corps offers over twenty programs that implement early literacy and early grade reading programs.

 “I’ve developed training curricula for host country nationals and Volunteers on literacy teaching and learning concepts for school based and community based projects,” she explained. “I’ve also created teaching learning materials for Volunteers and their counterpart teachers to use in the classroom and in community settings and designed Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation tools to measure outcomes in early grade reading.” 

Prior to moving to the Washington, DC area last year, Joanie served as chair of the Orange Elementary School Committee, director of the Athol Area United Way, president of Temple Israel in Greenfield, and consultant to the Commonwealth of MA Even Start family literacy program in Franklin County and the North Quabbin. 

Joanie and Tim Cohen-Mitchell

The evening will also include a presentation by Joanie’s husband, Tim Cohen-Mitchell on “The Man Who Painted Lincoln,” sponsored by the Drama Circle as part of the 150^th Anniversary Commemoration of the American Civil War. Tim will be re-joining Joanie and their son, Noah, at the family's new home in Greenbelt, MD at the end of July.  Both have been active in the North Quabbin community, with Tim serving as the Founder and Executive Director of the Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES) since 1998.  Following both presentation, the evening will conclude with a reception for the couple.  Refreshments will be served. 

Sponsors for “An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells” include Orange Innovation Center owners Jack and Laura Dunphy, Noel Vincent and Zita Rasid, Deans Beans, Seeds of Solidarity, North Quabbin Community Co-op, Millers River Café, the Bohemian Kitchen, Rachels Everlastings, Smilin’ Dog Café, Maple Grove Farmhouse, Trailhead, North Quabbin Trails Association and Whitten Trophies. 

An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells is open to the public and free of charge, though donations to YES-Biz and the Orange Cultural Council will be gratefully accepted.  For further information, please contact Genevieve Fraser at (978) 544-872 or Email: FraserGenevieve@gmail.com

Drama Circle presents “The Man Who Painted Lincoln” July 18 at OIC

President Barack Obama views the George Henry Story
portrait of  President Abraham Lincoln

Drama Circle presents “The Man Who Painted Lincoln” 

July 18 at OIC

 In commemoration of the 150^th Anniversary of the American Civil War, the Drama Circle will present Tim Cohen-Mitchell’s “The Man Who Painted Lincoln: images and tales from the outbreak of the Civil War by George Henry Story, 1835-1922.” The Civil War era portrait artist, George Henry Story, is Tim Cohen-Mitchell’s great-great-great uncle.  The talk and slide-show presentation will be part of "An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells" scheduled for Thursday, July 18 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm on the third floor via the elevator at the Orange Innovation Center building, 131 West Main Street, Orange, MA.

George Henry Story’s artist studio was located over the Civil War photographer Matthew Brady’s studio, according to Tim Cohen-Mitchell.  “Through Brady, Story met many of the era’s noteworthy characters in politics, business and popular culture. Among these was President-elect Lincoln, whose first, and later definitive, photographic portrait on arriving to take office in the Capital was posed by Story himself.”

“After attending the Inauguration and White House reception as Lincoln’s guest, the President invited Story to his second-floor White House office to sketch him -- he was far too busy to sit for a portrait -- over several full days as he assembled his Cabinet and administration and began preparations for a civil war he still hoped could be averted,” Cohen-Mitchell explained.  “From these sketches, Story completed twelve portraits of the President, the last in 1919. These today hang in the Smithsonian, Smith College, The Clark, and the Oval Office of President Obama.”

Tim Cohen Mitchel

“Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Story set sail for Cuba for his health, where he completed several commissions and witnessed the cruelty of slavery at first hand. A year later he established a studio in New York City. He travelled often to Europe, studying the works of the great masters, purchasing art for the private collections of Andrew Carnegie and John Pierpont Morgan, and winning a prize for genre at the 1886 Centennial Exhibition in Paris,” he continued.  “Story spent the next quarter century as curator and repairer of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as its director as well as serving Mr. Morgan as paintings consultant to the Hartford Athenaeum. At the time of his death in 1922, he left a legacy of portraits, landscapes and genre paintings in museums and private and company collections across America.”

Following “The Man Who Painted Lincoln” presentation, Tim’s wife, Joanie Cohen-Mitchell will give a talk on her work across the globe where Peace Corps Volunteers work in early literacy and early grade reading programs.  Tim will be re-joining Joanie and their son, Noah, at the family's new home in Greenbelt, MD at the end of July.  Both have been active in the North Quabbin community, with Tim serving as the Founder and Executive Director of the Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES) since 1998.  A reception will follow the presentations

An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells is open to the public and free of charge, though donations to YES-Biz and the Orange Cultural Council will be gratefully accepted.  Refreshments will be served. 

Sponsors for “An Evening with the Cohen-Mitchells” include Orange Innovation Center owners Jack and Laura Dunphy, Noel Vincent and Zita Rasid, Deans Beans, Seeds of Solidarity, North Quabbin Community Co-op, Millers River Café, the Bohemian Kitchen, Rachels Everlastings, Smilin’ Dog Café, Maple Grove Farmhouse, Trailhead, North Quabbin Trails Association and Whitten Trophies.  For further information, please contact Genevieve Fraser at  (978) 544-872 or FraserGenevieve@gmail.com