At Our Local History, our purpose is to share the local stories of our past to work toward a more just future. Through our workshops and resources, we help people find their own communities inside that struggle and carry it forward to today.
Civil rights history usually gets taught as something that happened somewhere else. That’s not the whole story.
The movement for civil rights happened in schools, neighborhoods and communities like yours – places all across New York that we call home. We are here to share the version of the story most of us never learned.
Workshops facilitated in 2025
Participants in workshops in schools and the community
Participants who say they’re more likely to work toward justice in their community
Our free lesson plans are inquiry- and asset-based, culturally responsive and fully aligned with New York State Education Department standards. Through tailored professional development workshops and coaching, we can help educators in your school or district bring them to life in a way that makes students feel safe, seen and empowered to take action.
Our interactive, inquiry-based workshops and professional development sessions help educators, businesses and community organizations understand their local history of civil rights and resistance and apply it to their own work. We emphasize relationships, cultural responsiveness and an inclination toward action.
Sustained relationship-building is at the heart of what we do. Through customized multi-year engagement and customized instructional coaching, we seek to move beyond one-off trainings to create lasting institutional change.
is to share the local stories of our past to work toward a more just future.
is to empower communities to engage with their local history of civil rights through inquiry, equity and civic action.
We invest in connection to build trust.
We lead with curiosity to foster meaningful dialogue.
We learn from our past to design a just future.
We empower partners to take action for equity and justice.
Our Local History is fiscally sponsored by Coordinated Care Services, Inc. and is supported by our Advisory Board:
Co-Director
Syd Bell is the Co-Director of Our Local History at CCSI. Her proven leadership in equity and inclusion, combined with her extensive community engagement and experience in program facilitation, makes her the ideal partner to drive the development and implementation of impactful curriculum and training.
Syd serves as Board Chair at the Women’s Foundation of Genesee Valley and a board member at Writers & Books. In 2023, she founded the ROC J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) Collective for DEI professionals, consultants, and volunteers across the Greater Rochester area to learn from each other and build community. She resides in the Neighborhood of the Arts in the City of Rochester.
Co-Director
Shane Wiegand is the Co-Director of Our Local History. Sparked by a student’s question about whether Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had ever visited New York, and if a local civil rights movement existed in their own backyard, Shane and his students began uncovering local Civil Rights history.
Today, building on over a decade of classroom experience as a former tenured elementary teacher in the Rush-Henrietta Central School District, he partners with school districts, civic organizations, corporations, and community groups to share this history in ways that build common ground and bridge divides.
Recognized in 2021 on the Rochester Business Journal “Forty Under 40” list for his work in education and equity, Shane serves on the boards of Connected Communities and the Beechwood Neighborhood Coalition. He lives with his family in Rochester’s Beechwood neighborhood.
Consultant
Tay Porter-Jourdain is a consultant at Our Local History and an experienced educator dedicated to advancing equity, belonging, and culturally responsive education. After several years as a lower elementary teacher and Instructional Leader in Rochester, she now partners with educators to design meaningful learning experiences that integrate social-emotional learning and culturally responsive practices.
A lifelong Rochester resident, Tay and her family call the Northland-Lyceum neighborhood home. Her work is rooted in a deep belief that strong communities are built through connection, opportunity, and a true sense of belonging. She is especially passionate about supporting historically underserved communities and helping create systems where every child and family can thrive.
Senior Consultant
Jeanette Adams-Price is a Senior Consultant for Our Local History, bringing her experiences as an elementary classroom teacher, professional learning leader, education consultant, and CASEL (Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning) fellow alum to CCSI.
Her professional focus includes Social and Emotional Learning (SEL); culturally responsive curriculum and assessment design; LGBTQIA+ education, inclusion, and allyship; Safe Zone training for a variety of audiences; and the facilitation of the Greater Rochester Area GSA Advisors Community. As a CASEL Fellow, she completed her fellowship in June 2023, concentrating on systemic SEL implementation and building community partnerships, notably through the “Get to Know Me Project”.
She is a seasoned conference presenter at the local, state, and national levels and has published articles on the impact of successful professional learning as well as having her work featured in two professional books.
Jeanette grew up on the south shore of Long Island and currently resides in the Rochester area with her wife and two dogs.
Research and Communications Coordinator
Justin Murphy is the research and communications coordinator for Our Local History. From 2012 until 2024 he covered education and other topics as a reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle. Justin continues his work in freelance journalism for local and national outlets, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Rochester Beacon and CITY Magazine. He is also the author of Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York, published by Cornell University Press in 2022.
Justin grew up in the suburb of Penfield and attended the University of Chicago and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.