Questions design general outlines and intentions for the Hope Stories project, a working guideline to consider how a single interview might progress.
The Hope Stories Questions list seeks rapport with potential narrators, greater access of memory recall, and to prepare for the day of the interview. Individual questions change with each narrator’s background, field of specialization, and according to the personal story each narrator chooses to share. Suggested subjects, personal events, and specific questions for conversation are always encouraged.
For more information about working together, and developing questions for the story you would most like to tell, Contact me by phone or email.
All recordings begin with a short introduction which details interview location, date, and anyone who may be present other than the narrator and the interviewer. In addition to the digital-file name of the recording, the interview begins when the narrator states:
Full name
Location considered hometown
Current role or recent advocacy at Mesilla Valley Community of Hope
Biographical
Will you share a story about growing up
Where did you go to school –– What career did you imagine for yourself
Talk about highlights of your personal biography before Mesilla Valley Community of Hope –– Education, Travel, Business, Volunteerism
Talk about the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope and Doña Ana County services that matter most to your work
Hope Stories
What is your perspective on finding and keeping long-term employment in Las Cruces
How did you first experience what today is commonly called a “tent-city” or “homeless youth” or “soup-kitchen” or “health clinic” or “food pantry”
Discuss differences between sanctioned and unsanctioned tent-cities
How can community support help or hinder success for the homeless
Talk about the benefits of transitional housing programs like Tents-to-Rents–– Complications
Discuss some of the challenges of maintaining health when experiencing homelessness
Which clinical services and healthcare programs help the homeless to access food and shelter
Hope New Mexico
Tell me about services and resources outside Camp Hope that work –– those that do not
How do access services to public housing differ throughout the State of New Mexico and the City of Las Cruces
What is your knowledge of poverty and hunger in rural areas of the state
Have you worked with Community of Hope clients from New Mexico Colonias
What is your knowledge about New Mexico’s transition between the traditional federal Food Stamp Program and today’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
In your experience, have programs like New Mexico’s use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) helped avoid homelessness
Hope Work
How do City, State or Federal funding programs play a role in your work
Can you talk about specific city or state institutional challenges of helping people who are living at Camp Hope
Discuss some of the challenges of maintaining health when experiencing homelessness
Which clinical services and healthcare access programs help the homeless access food and shelter
Are soup kitchens vital to the homeless community
Hope Care
In your own daily and weekly routine, what methods of self-care work best
What programs are you aware of that help to alleviate the stress that can occur for those working to help the homeless
Are there employer, city, or state systems which support your healthcare
Do you have a retirement program as part of your work
Hope Future
Do future programs show promise to help the homeless in Las Cruces
Name three of the most valuable contributions or levels of support, not present today, that would help the homeless in Las Cruces immediately
How do you envision the future of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope
creates public history sound recordings, seeks reasonable workflow, and dreams of longterm digital preservation.
records papers 