California Story Fund
River Stories
Harmony Health Family Resource Center
Marysville
Project Director: Marc Flacks
Youths document Marysville’s connection to its rivers
Teens from Linda, Calif., the most economically depressed and flood-devastated area of Marysville, will learn about their community’s relationship to the river. Students from Yuba College, also in Linda, will serve as mentors to the teens as they participate in a variety of projects, including interviewing elderly Linda residents about the 1955 flood, when 30 people perished, and the 1986 flood that flooded the local mall, which to this day remains largely closed.
Project Director Marc Flacks said that the goal is to empower local youth by giving them new skills and to empower the local community by documenting its social history, telling its many river-related stories, and staging events wherein community members can learn about Linda’s history and discuss the future of the town and the river.
History Professor David Rubiales, of Yuba College, an expert on the history of the Yuba River, will serve as a consultant on the project and lead workshops for the student mentors on how to conduct research on local history.
Participants in the project will present the stories they have gathered via videos, slide shows, posters and other means at a project event in spring 2009.