Staff Projects

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season. We decided to give you a feel for our roles in this multifaceted organization by way of saying thank you for your support and encouragement all year. We each chose a project we worked on this year as an example of our roles and what about them brings us gratitude. And to acknowledge that we couldn't do any of it without you—our community. We thank each one of you for your trust, involvement, support and friendship. 

Tam Huynh, Executive Director

This summer we will bring together youth, grades 8 to 12, for a youth development conference. This conference focuses on addressing bias, injustices, oppression and is grounded in restorative practices. It will invite youth to learn from one another, shape how these leaders can create lasting change, and forge close friendships. The HHRC has a long history of supporting programming for youth and youth activism. I should know. Nearly 30 years ago, the HHRC sponsored a similar conference, the Diversity of Leadership Institute, that changed my life. It is now my responsibility and humble privilege to provide a space to empower today’s youth. I would like to extend my profound gratitude to the leaders who came before me and envisioned the Diversity of Leadership Institute, the staff and board who made that work possible, and the many teachers and administrators who volunteered their time and provided on-site support to us. I thank you. It afforded me opportunities I thought were beyond my reach, and now with the help of my colleagues – staff and board – and the support of staff and youth advisory groups, we can provide those opportunities to youth once again. (Photograph of youth at the 1994 Diversity of Leadership Institute, marking Tam's first conference)

Erica Nadelhaft, Education Coordinator

My job at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine is a gift. It isn’t an easy gift: it is one that comes with the strings of hard work, occasionally odd hours, and moments of exhaustion. It is a job that often comes home with me and remains in my head and heart outside of my official working hours. One of the projects that has meant the most to me this year has been the development and presentation of our new program “The Swastika, Hate Speech and the Holocaust.” This program came about in response to a rise in requests from students, teachers, and administrators who are grappling with a rise in antisemitism and racism in their communities. I presented the program for the first time to a group of high school students and their teachers in central Maine this fall. It was a joy to see how willing the students were to engage with challenging material, how quickly they were able to make connections with things that they saw in their own lives, how open they were to share their own experiences with bias and hate, and how they were continuing the conversations even after the presentation was over.  It was eye-opening not only for me, but for their teachers as well. I have presented this program several times since then and the excitement and rewards it brings continue.

Philip Fishman, Operations Manager

Over the past year our team has been working on making the HHRC’s collections and artifacts available for viewing. I have been leading this extensive project which involves indexing artifacts, identifying their provenance, assigning collection numbers, and ensuring their protection. We also aim to make these items searchable and available in an online format. This has allowed us to present items for viewing that had been in storage for many years. I find this project particularly fulfilling and meaningful. The artifacts present irrefutable evidence of the state of the world at that time and encourage us all to analyze and confront this brutal period in history. I have enjoyed sharing these items with many members of our community and am encouraged to hear the impact that they have. I look forward to further discussion with our visitors and am excited for us all to learn from these collections.

Piper Dumont, Educator

My tween and teen years were often sleepless as I wrestled with the world. You see, I couldn't look away from the injustices that seemed to be everywhere ... it was breaking my heart. At the time, I simply could not have imagined that I'd land at a place like the HHRC working with educators, community leaders and students to cultivate a more just and equitable future. This past year I have had the privilege of working on a few projects that feel so important for those who are trying hard to call out prejudice, stand up to hatred, and create communities where everyone is not just welcome but valued and appreciated for exactly who they are. It was a lot of hard work, and a thrill, to create the HHRC Anti-Bias Toolkit, a 22-page booklet overflowing with suggestions, resources, practical guidance, and tons of encouragement for students committed to making their schools welcoming, supportive, and safe. I also collaborated with my colleague Erica to create a truly amazing summer seminar for teachers to explore hate speech, develop strategies for reducing prejudice and bias, and build respectful schools for all students. Twelve special guests joined the class to offer their wisdom, experience, and solidarity. Twelve! I couldn't have dreamed of these friendships and opportunities as child—yet here I am. I'm so appreciative of our wonderful community supporting our work and collaborating with us to make it happen.

Sara Lennon, Communications Coordinator

I enjoyed preparing for our Annual Meeting in late September because it offered an opportunity to showcase all that we had achieved the previous year, offer a peek at what we have planned, and celebrate amazing speakers who are building connected communities and fighting for all people’s rights. We pulled out the stops, creating a save the date card, printed invitation, six posters from projects in 2022, 15 table cards on different aspects of our work, and a 20-page program that combined images, description and testimony to offer an overview of what keeps the HHRC so busy. It was a lot of work, and I enjoyed every day of the preparation—the challenge, the adrenaline, mostly the pride I felt in just how much our relatively small staff had managed to achieve by working together. One of the best parts was how many people from our extended community attended the meeting as 120 people gathered to celebrate being together again. The evening exceeded our expectations—it overflowed with kinship, appreciation and many standing ovations. I am so grateful to our entire community for its loyalty, confidence and generosity. 

Alexandra Magnaud, Educator

Most of my educational training and experience has been working with young children; I am so excited to bring that background and passion to my work at the HHRC as we develop a new initiative, the Inclusive Storytime Program, which begins in January. It will be an  after-school program focusing on exploring identity, diversity, justice, and equity through reading some amazing books, discussion, activities, and time for the students own personal project, adding meaning and self exploration to the experience. I feel so incredibly lucky that the HHRC, and our director Tam, values our ideas, skills, and background, helping us make them part of our jobs. What a place to work! I also want to thank the Telling Room for partnering with us on this project, Talbot Community School for supporting the idea, their community coordinator for facilitating the logistics, and especially the children and their families who are choosing to participate. Over this year, seeing the care, passion and dedication that educators, students, and administrators have for improving their communities leaves me feeling hopeful and excited about how this project might grow and evolve over time.