Cornerstones Community Partnerships/

Cornerstones Community Partnerships

Historic preservation work with communities to preserve architectural heritage and cultural traditions:

• Hands-on Assistance: Cornerstones has developed a nationally-recognized model for involving community members in dynamic, volunteer-driven preservation projects to save historic community buildings. Cornerstones' expert field staff works with communities to plan these projects, offering technical direction and training, while eliciting and supporting local leadership.
• Technical Advice: Cornerstones gets many requests each year from communities for assistance in identifying and proposing solutions to common problems facing their historic adobe buildings. A member of Cornerstones' technical staff will visit the site, inspect the building and meet with community caretakers. After the assessment, Cornerstones usually provides the community with a written report, explaining the problems found and recommending solutions.
• Youth Training: Recognizing the important role young people play in carrying on cultural traditions, Cornerstones has developed specialized youth training programs. These programs provide youth with marketable job skills and a greater appreciation of their cultural heritage.
• Community Workshops: Cornerstones disseminates important technical information regarding the restoration and maintenance of historic buildings to a large number of people very efficiently through one and two day community workshops on various topics of adobe preservation. As a companion tool to the workshops, Cornerstones has published the Adobe Architecture Conservation Handbook.