As a direct result of the funding available through ECHO, Schooner Ernestina provided 121 programs serving 5,723 persons from the southeastern Massachusetts region, primarily underserved youth from New Bedford and Fall River, with more than 17,984 contact hours of structured programming during July through October 2004. In addition, more than 661 volunteer hours were provided by several dozen volunteers. Twelve interns, youth 14 to 20 years old from the New Bedford community, successfully applied out of a pool of almost 50, and came board in teams of four for two week-stints to assist with the operation of the historic schooner and participate alongside the teaching staff in delivery of the ECHO program. The intern program included stipends for 960 hours of intern effort. A focused outreach effort led to programs for 32 different community-based organizations, 26 schools and nine college-based programs as well as 12 public sails open to the community at large. Louise Anthony worked with staff and ECHO partners on curriculum design for the Ocean Learning Program. She is shown here testing one of the stations on board the ship. Our Ocean Learning Program Coordinator, Barbara Burgo, confirmed logistics and refined the way the program functioned. She outreached to many community-based organizations to fill more than 120 time slots throughout the season into the Fall. Outreach began in August to schools and other partners to fill the Fall schedule with many relationships already in place thanks to ongoing collaborations between the ECHO partners and the public schools. Ocean Learning Program Coordinator, Barbara Burgo, and Intern Program Coordinator, Laurie Weitzen, acknowledge the great effort by the ECHO Interns Fernando Gonsalves, Max DeOliveira, Katie DePrato and Kyle Miner. Not present for the end of the year celebration were other interns Jerrel Burgo, Jayme Diaz, Bryce Garron, Calvin Grace, Jeremy Lambalot, Wilson Pilarte, Brian Rudolph and Christian Turgeon. ECHO has provided a great opportunity! However, the challenge is rarely met with grant funding alone. You can help us make up the balance to cover our overall budget for the year. You can ensure Ernestina is under full sail with a generous donation today... If you would like to donate now, please click the image to the right to go to a secure server set up to handle online donations. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Anne Brengle presents a new ECHO banner to Ernestina on behalf of the Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Oceanarium just before the fireworks began in New Bedford Harbor on July 4th. NEW BEDFORD, MA – Earlier this year the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Oceanarium announced the creation of a joint local initiative to provide education, training and ocean learning experiences to SouthCoast students and teachers. The “Sharing Cultures/Connecting Oceans: a New Bedford Collaboration” also involves the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Schooner Ernestina and the New Bedford Global Learning Charter School. Funding, estimated at $695,000, has been appropriated through the Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO) program of the U.S. Department of Education. The ECHO program links cultural organizations in Alaska, Hawaii, and Massachusetts in developing cultural and educational initiatives. The program’s goals are to build bridges to learn about local history, art and the natural environment by expanding the presence of cultural and historical organizations in the community; to celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity within historic coastal communities; to explore the connections among business, commerce, art, science and the natural environment; and to create new opportunities for teaching and learning. Established by Congress as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, ECHO is an educational and cultural enrichment initiative serving hundreds of thousands of children and adult learners in Alaska, Hawaii and Massachusetts. Working with local partners, such as the National Park Service, schools and community-based organizations, ECHO programs foster greater appreciation of local and national history and assist communities in maximizing the social benefits of new technology. The ECHO partners include the New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford Oceanarium, Peabody Essex Museum, Bishop Museum in Hawaii, and the Alaska Native Heritage Center and Inupiat Heritage Center in Alaska. Ernestina operated out of our homeport of New Bedford for the sailing season offering daysail programs.