The Center for Educational Design and Communication provides affordable communication services and conference facilities to community and social justice organizations. We join in partnership with those who have been denied – poor women, homeless people, refugees, youth – as we work to transform relationships through communication technologies. Our services include consultation, project development, print and web design, video production, photography, and conference facilities – the tools by which we further justice, education and social change.
In September of 1984, the United States Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart established the Center for Educational Design and Communication in Washington, DC. Directed by Catherine (Kit) Collins, rscj and sponsored by the Society of the Sacred Heart, the Center's purpose has always been clear - to serve the Society of the Sacred Heart as well as other faith-based groups that are in the forefront of social justice and to open the doors of communication arts to organizations that might not otherwise afford such services.
What is different about the Center's approach is the relationship between the Center and its clients. Projects are taken on as a collaborative process where needs and goals are identified, then strategies are designed to fulfill the needs and goals.
From the beginning, the Center received an overwhelming response from the nonprofit community, and before the building repairs were complete, the staff was over their heads in projects. To date, the pace at the Center has not slowed down, and the response from the nonprofit community has not changed.
Kit Collins, rscj, has done facilitation and consultation in the US and in over 26 countries around the world.
Beth Ponticello, an award winning designer, holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art + Design in graphic design. For the last thirteen years, she has been working for the Center for Educational Design and Communication (CEDC) as its Art/Media Director. Besides her work in design, she also enjoys photography.
Will Simpson has served at the CEDC for seven years, now working alongside Kit Collins as Assistant Director. It is Will's work that allows the day to day operation of the Center run smoothly and efficiently, and he is a constant point of contact for many RSCJ and CEDC partners. He and his wife Avé, a Spanish teacher and administrator at a local high school, moved to Washington in 2001 after graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Laryn Kragt Bakker is Senior Designer at CEDC. He double majored in graphic design and computer science and is an open source enthusiast.
He is the author of Clutching Dust and Stars, a novel coming in late 2009, and in addition to his contributions to the CEDC blog, he posts sporadically here and here.
He is currently spending much of his time continuing to learn the ropes of fatherhood and enjoying life with his wife and daughter.
Daniel Fracella is the Hospitality Director and he and his wife Margie are the Resident Managers at the Center. He is a doctoral student in Church History at The Catholic University of America, where he is studying Modern European history. He is also currently a research assistant and works at the Catholic Historical Review. He has volunteered in the past for Disability Support Services at the university and enjoys reading and playing guitar.
Melvin Amaya is the media designer at CEDC. Being an adoptive Washingtonian, Melvin has spent 16 years of his life in the district. Before following his passion for visual arts and receiving his BFA in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Washington, he studied international business administration at the Kogod School of Business at American University. Aside from his admiration and passion for art, Melvin is an avid electronic music, modern architecture, and aviation enthusiast.
