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Gullah Geechee CDC elects officers and selects Solas to build 10‑stop cultural wayfinding app
Summary
At a public meeting of the Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhood Community Development Corporation, board members elected Shirley Peterson chair and approved a vendor selection for a 10‑stop augmented‑reality wayfinding app. Solas outlined an October site visit, a demo after Thanksgiving and a target completion by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhood Community Development Corporation on (date not specified) elected Shirley Peterson chair, named Pastor Louis Johnson vice chair, Andre White secretary and House Brown treasurer, and moved forward with selecting a vendor to create a 10‑stop cultural wayfinding app.
The board’s staff said the RFP drew 13 applicants and was narrowed to three finalists; the board selected Solas (recorded in the meeting under variant spellings) to design an augmented‑reality experience that pairs narration, soundscapes and digital reconstructions with physical markers at cultural sites. "Our current contract will provide for 10 locations, for cultural sites to be recognized and enhanced through digital means," a staff member told the board during the presentation.
Kujenga Jackson, introduced as Solas’s executive director, described precedent projects including work tied to Greenwood Rising and a Civil Rights Trail program and said the company uses AR to "bring history to life." Jackson said the team will visit the island in October for stakeholder meetings, expects a demonstration product to be available after Thanksgiving and aims to complete the app by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. "Technology gets people's attention, but the story is what captures their heart," Jackson said.
Board members repeatedly urged community input. Several encouraged outreach to elders to capture oral histories and asked that local schools and students be involved. Jackson said Solas plans to recruit high‑school and post‑secondary students to help with sound engineering, narration and research and that the company has budgeted stipends for participants.
Staff and members also discussed partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, resorts and local tour operators to connect the app to existing visitor channels. The board’s staff said the 10 sites are a starting point and can be expanded later; staff further proposed a public fact‑finding meeting during the October visit to gather local input on stop selection.
The meeting closed with reminders about other items on staff’s short list: a financial education workshop scheduled for Sept. 25 at the Island Rec Center, a holiday reception planned for early December to gather community feedback and a target of November to launch the Stony Impact grants application process.
Next steps: staff will finalize stakeholder meeting dates for October, provide a demo package for board review and begin community fact‑finding to identify the 10 initial stops and any additional sites to include.
