For the celebration of Veteran's Day in November, 2020, the FACC had a Zoom presentation about two stories from two of our FACC members and their service remembrances in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Member Benefits
www.cocouncil.org
Updated January 15, 2020
Established in 1980, the Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies (CCGS) is a non-profit organization addressing the needs and interests of the Colorado genealogical community through cooperation and support of the member organizations. CCGS is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization. See our website for more information.
Four Quarterly Meetings
Speakers give presentations on informational topics and delegates from member societies share projects and seminar info and include useful tips from their societies. Meet in January, April, July, and October.
Volunteer of the Year Award
"The Birdie Monk Award" is given to an outstanding living individual, society, group, library, archive or other organization that has provided outstanding volunteer service to the Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies or some area of genealogical service in Colorado. Nominations are due by October 1 of each year.
First Families of Colorado Recognition Program
Recognizes our pioneering Colorado ancestors in three categories: First Family (prior to 1861), Territorial (28 Feb 1861-1 Aug 1876) and Centennial (100 years prior to application date). Lineage must be proven through documentation. Certificates are suitable for framing.
David S. Vogels Award
David S. Vogels Award recognizes persons who have given outstanding service to the genealogical community. The nominee must be deceased for at least two years prior to the nomination. Deadline is December 1 every other year.
Zoom Teleconference Service
The Council offers their teleconference service to all members for FREE. Up to 100 users can participate in a Zoom meeting, which can be recorded and played back for later use on member’s website or the Council’s FREE Vimeo video service. Each member is responsible for their own laptop and video equipment plus video editing program. A broadband or Wi-Fi Internet connection is required. Registration of each society’s usage schedule is required 10 days in advance by all members to prevent duplicate dates and times. Contact the Council’s technical advisor (Bob Larson) for details and instructions.
Society Management Workshop
Our biennial Society Management Workshop provides management type classes for our member societies. The classes focus on helping member societies with management examples for their Board and committee chairs taught by experienced facilitators or instructors. Many exhibitors display their products and services providing many door prizes for the attendees. The next workshop is planned for the fall season of 2021.
Speakers Bureau
We provide a list of experienced genealogy speakers in Colorado regarding their expertise, credentials, lecture topics, contact info, and their fees. The list is updated twice each year.
Educational & Informational Videos
The Council provides two different video series on our website. The general genealogy series is hosted by our Certified Genealogist, Carol Cooke Darrow, located on our home page. The 30 to 60 minute management and general meeting videos are located in the Members only section.
Informational Website
Our website includes lots of information relating to the above topics with a monthly calendar of our member activities, educational or informational videos plus our secure members only section with member quarterly reports, important Council information, and speaker approved presentations.
Good morning, its -15 degrees in Pueblo right now the high is suppose to hit 14, a heat wave. Be safe and stay warm. California send some warm air this way.
I am not a big Facebook person, but I realize it is important to keep our members informed, which mostly has been through emails and our website. I will do a better job in the future on Facebook.
There will be some exciting news this week about our Annual Meeting and Conference, I have a planned meeting with the GSHA executive board and chapter reps this Wednesday to discuss our moving forward.
This pandemic has been rough on all of us and has forced us to change the way we do business, Zoom has become our main means of communication with conducting our membership meetings. It has becomes more popular as we are able to live stream outstanding presenters and I see it continuing when we can meet in person again hopefully by the fall.
I want to Thank all the chapters of remaining strong and especially the excellent speakers they have provided, they have been quite informative and have provided much needed help in do our genealogical research. So Great job! You can connect to the chapter websites on gshaa.org.
GSHA has entered into a collaborative partnership with the Pueblo City/County library to provide future speakers, my Thanks to Charlene Garcia-Simms, the Hispanic genealogist and historian of the library, for this partnership and look forward to future joint presentations. Also, we our working on another partnership with the Colorado Genealogical Society with same purpose. I will be talking with Kelly Glenn, VP of Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies and former President of Colorado Genealogical Society early this week to get the ball rolling.
I want to remind everyone of our blog on our website gshaa.org, there you can find other website upcoming events, family stories and general information on GSHA. But we need your help, this is your way of getting your story out there and informing us of what is going on. I thank Lynda Sena-Kouba and Tom Martinez for their diligence in maintaining the blog. Again this your blog, please use it, no story is to small. You can send your articles or information to: president@gshaa.org, gsha.secretary@gmail.com or gsha.vp@gshaa.org for posting.
I thank the Conference Planning Committee for their hard work, Rose Alavarado (UT), Ed Muniz(UT), Gloria Gonzales-Cook(UT), Maria Garciaz(UT), Albert Garcia(UT), Jeanette Martinez(SC), Cathy Romero(SC), Roccie Hill (SC), Tom Martinez(FACC), Charles Lobato(UT), John Matinez(UT), Debbie Gurtler(Familysearch), Juan Becerra(Church of Jesus Christ.org), Loe Marie Pierce(Church of Jesus Christ.org), we are all grateful for your dedication.
I conjunction with GSHA chapters, will be starting a Oral History section on our website, it is in its infancy. Ed Muniz , a professor at the University of Utah, is conducting such a program with his students in Chicano studies and we will be consulting with him how to move forward. I hope to have this up and running by May 2021.
GSHA is a non-profit organization and as such relies on memberships dues for its operating budget. If you are not a member, please considering joining us or please consider a donation for the excellent work our board and members do. Go to gshaa.org, membership tab, on-line payment and you will find ways to join or donate.
Again, Thank you all for your perseverance and loyalty, stay safe, stay strong and stay warm.
Bob Craig
GSHA President