Community Education at Search
We are excited to introduce a new department at Search Inc. – Community Education!
What is Community Education?
Community Education encompasses Search’s external advocacy efforts that educate and collaborate within our local communities. These initiatives include Visibility Arts, the NeurodiVERSED campaign, JJsList.com, Disability Awareness Trainings and Hop on the Bus Workshops.
The team will also focus on expanding opportunities for advocacy in the community and cultivating new and existing relationships. A restructure of leadership and oversight in these areas will allow these unique opportunities for advocacy and education to grow and thrive in the years to come.
Meet the Community Education team members!
Tina Zemen, Community Education and Visibility Arts Division Manager – Tina started at Search in January 2000 and has held several positions in Search’s Adult Learning Programs, throughout her 22 years. Notably, Tina founded Visibility Arts at Search, in 2002, when participants at the Lincoln ALP site began requesting opportunities to express themselves through art. Tina used her organic passion for art and her honed skills to support these requests!
This year alone, Visibility Arts has supported 60+ artists to exhibit their art in the community. The Visibility Arts instruction reaches all four of our Adult Learning sites, as well as participants in the community via virtual classes. In 2020, Tina co-led the creation of NeurodiVERSED, an awareness campaign designed to give people who think differently a platform where they can share their voices and educate the community on mental health and intellectual disabilities.
We are thrilled to broadly share that Tina was promoted to this new position at Search, on September 1st. Tina is now leading the charge on Search’s work to educate and strengthen our communities!
Sarah Armour, Community Education Assistant – Sarah has been an anchor on our JJ’s List team for over 10 years as the JJ’s List Business Assistant. She is also a Disability Awareness Player, providing training on disability awareness to businesses and organizations in the community. We are excited to announce that Sarah has taken on a new role at Search as the Community Education Assistant. In her new position, she will be supporting Visibility Arts, JJ’s List, and all community education initiatives at Search.
We are excited for Sarah as she undertakes her new, expanded role at Search. In honor of her contributions to Search, we sat down with Sarah to talk about her time here and her new position.