The Greater Ridgewood Youth Council (GRYC) provides educational, recreational, cultural, and employment programs for youth in Western Queens. In the Spring of 2016, 19 student employees between the ages of 14-15 years old participated in the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development’s “Work, Learn & Grow Employment Program”, which is funded by the New York City Council. The GRYC is a community-based service provider for DYCD. During their time on Work, Learn and Grow, some of the student employees undertook a community documentation project in collaboration with Queens Memory. Led by GRYC staffer Emily Waelder, the students conducted oral history interviews with local residents, plus they digitized and cataloged materials from the archives at GRYC. All these materials became part of the Archives at Queens Library.
The partnership was led on the Queens Memory side by project archivist Maggie Schreiner who worked with Queens Memory Director Natalie Milbrodt to provide training on oral history interviewing, digitization and cataloging. Schreiner created a simplified cataloging guide for the students to use. CUNY Service Corps employee Reshad Hai worked on-site at the GRYC to help the students with their digitization, cataloging, and oral history interviews.