Committees of the W3R-US 

Alliance Exhibit | Atlantic | Chair's Advisory | Education | Finance | Grants Map Refinement | Planning | Program | Publicity | Signage | Volunteer Hours | Website | Not Yet Active

Alliance Exhibit: (Chair: John Welsh)   Charter: Work with the National Park Service, affiliates and outside agencies to explore the artifacts available, determine a theme, secure funding, and design and construct one or more permanent or traveling exhibits. Mission: Possible themes are political aid, financial aid, military stores and clothing, naval efforts around the globe, recommending trained European officers for positions in the U.S. army, and the social impact of having French troops operating on U.S. soil.

Atlantic Committee (Chair: Nicole Yancey)   Charter: Established in 2007 September to provide accurate historic information and to develop heritage tourism resources related to the naval component of French participation in the American Revolution. Mission: Develop, support, or otherwise utilize --- battles, rosters, commemorations, maps and history of cruises. --- signage, Web, video and other ways to reach / teach heritage tourists. --- replica vessels and re-enactments, such as Andrew Doria -- the ship that, while flying the flag of the U.S. (the Grand Unon flag at this time, 1776 Nov 16), received the first cannon-salute in a foreign port (Dutch-owned St. Eustatius). L'Hermione -- the ship on which Lafayette returned to the U.S. in April 1780 after helping negotiate the dispatch of the French Expeditionary Force led by General Rochambeau --- Post progress reports on the W3R-US Web site under Allied Battles Worldwide

Chairman's Advisory Board: (Chair: Sallie deBarcza)   Charter: Be on-call for consultation with the incumbent Chair of the W3R-US. All former chairs who agree to serve are members ex officio

Education: (Chair: William Conley)   Charter: Bring the W3R alive for all ages, but especially youth ages 6 to 16. Mission: Develop resources and handout materials to assist speakers and teachers in preparing and delivering educational presentations and interactive course materials -- multilingual where posssible.

Finance: (Chair: Carl Nittinger; Members: BIll Conley, Veronica Eid, BJ Gerber, Ralph Nelson, Robert Reyes)   Charter: Lead the effort to secure grants to fund W3R projects. -- Identify funding agencies that suit our region, tasks, and size. -- Become familiar with their criteria, personnel, and procedures for making grants. -- Help the agency staff understand what the W3R is and how their support would advance the development of the W3R-NHT. The Introducing the W3R packet should contain the following items:      A letter annnouncing the W3R's designation as an NHT [not yet posted]       An Invitation to Explore the W3R (trifold brochure)       The map cited in the designation legislation (full network)       A high resolution NPS map of the W3R in your state (RI shown here)       "March to Victory": Washington, Rochambeau,      and the Yorktown Campaign of 1781, by Robert A. Selig [52 page PDF] -- Obtain and complete the agencies' application forms, working with the appropriate W3R-US committee or officers to develop for each agency a proposals that fits its criteria. -- Keep the W3R-US Board informed of all proposals being developed a nd submit the draft proposals to the W3R-US Board for approval and submission to the agencies.

Grants: (Chair: Kim Burdick)   Charter: Manage the expenditure of grant funds. -- Suggest, solicit, and collect projects proposals from chapters and committees. Suggested Project Proposal Form [DOC] -- Evaluate the submitted proposals and recommend funding action to the Board. -- Monitor progress and expenditures and make quarterly reports to the Board.

Map Refinement (Chair: James Raleigh; members: Galina Chernikova)   Charter: Develop a procedure for volunteers to enter GPS and descriptive text into a database using StreetAtlas®, GoogleEarth®, or a standardized format, then convert the information into KML (for GoogleMap®) format for distribution and display on free map sites [such as the present W3R material on Google Earth®, which shows the French march through Massachusetts and D'Estaing's cruise of 1778-79]. We are developing a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database, which accommodates text, graphics, and links to Web-hosted audio and video files. GIS Resources: ESRI [vendor site]

Planning: (Chair: Mary M.R. Goodwin)   Charter: Develop and promote a prioritized list of state and national, educational and tourism activities that would engage our affiliates and the public in developing and using the W3R-NHT. The projects should be suitable for joint efforts by the W3R-US and its affiliates in consultation and cooperation with the National Park Service. Several completed projects were joint efforts with the DAR, SAR, state tourism agencies, state departments of transportation, and individual donors.

Program:   (Chair: Ursula Reed; members: Bill Conley, Ellen von Karajan, Blanche Hunnewell) Charter: Work with the NPS Superintendant to build a Work Plan for 2012.

Publicity: (Chair: Janet Burnet)   Charter: Build databases for the states: members, media contacts, and interested persons. Prepare media announcement aids for use by the state groups.

Signage: (Chair: Tom D'Amico)   Charter: Maintain and distribute recommended format for signage; help the local group doing the sign find authors, reviewers, designers, and fabricators; suggest sources of funding and restrictions or criteria for installation; update marker database (external wbsite) with W3R signs; work with the Map Refinement Committee to build their database. Types of interpretive and wayfinding markers include: W3R-US (or affiliate)-funded signage will follow W3R-US standards, use the W3R-US logo, and will be written, designed, fabricated, and installed by or through contracts from W3R-US (or affiliate) Resources: W3R-US standards State-funded signage will follow state standards, use the state-designated logo, and will be written, designed, fabricated, and installed by the state. NPS-funded signage will follow NPS standards, use the W3R-NPS logo (not yet designed), and will be written, designed, fabricated, and installed by or through contracts from NPS staff.

Volunteer Hours: (Chair: open)   Charter: To document personal contributions as a basis for cost-sharing on grants from the NPS and other agencies. Mission: Create log sheet and directions for filing hours and dollars spent on W3R-related activities by W3R-US members and others. Collect and compile the completed sheets. Summarize them as needed for various purposes.   Volunteer Log [Excel file]

Website (Managing Editor: Tom Buckingham)   Charter: Provide regular communications about the activities, plans, and people engaged in developing the W3R-NHT. Mission: Design, code, and maintain our Web site, including: history 1775-1783, an event calendar and photo-reports of development of the W3R-NHT, maps and suggestions for touring the trail, information on the national organization and state groups, encouraging submissions for a monthly PDF newsletter of progress (E-distribute the newsletter's URL link to all members and interested persons). See Guidelines for Newsletter Contributions [PDF]

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