<commit_before>---
layout: default
title: About
permalink: /about/
---

## What is the Local Preservation School?

The Local Preservation School is an **open learning environment** where preservation advocates and volunteers share with people how to save and sustain historic places in their communities. Our goal is to teach you how to get involved with historic preservation in your community through free online courses, easy-to-use tutorials and fun projects. **Beginners are welcome!**

<a href="{{ site.url }}/2015/09/16/what-is-local-preservation-school.html" class="button">Learn more about the Local Preservation School</a>

## Why is it needed?

Historic preservation can be a powerful tool for connecting neighbors around local history and culture, promoting community development through economic development and education, and empowering community residents to shape the future of their city. Unfortunately, many people do not understand how historic preservation can help their community. If you are already interested in preservation you still may not know where to turn for help getting started. We are building the Local Preservation School to make it easier to understand **why preservation matters** and **how to use preservation** to benefit historic communities and residents.

<a href="{{ site.url }}/background/" class="button">Read more about preservation education online</a>

## Who is the Local Preservation School for?

**You!** The Local Preservation School is a community-based project with opportunities for people from all backgrounds to participate—not just historic preservation professionals or specialized experts. We are focused on historic preservation in the United States but we hope that the resources we are developing may be useful to people around  the world.

## How challenging or difficult are our courses?

Many of the concepts or skills required for historic preservation are simple—how to take a good photograph of a building or how to plan your first walking tour. Other topics—understanding how preservation review works at the local, state and federal level—can get a bit technical. Some activities may ask you to learn how to use a new piece of software or web application. Whenever you find challenging material here, we'll try to provide you with everything you need to know using free resources from around the web.

## Is it free?

All our online materials are **free** and **open**. What does open mean? The [Open Knowledge Foundation explains](http://opendefinition.org/):

>“Open means anyone can freely access, use, modify, and share for any purpose (subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness).”

In support of this principle, resources developed by the Local Preservation School team are published under a [Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication][1]. In some cases, we have adapted existing resources published under a Creative Commons Attribution or Share-Alike license where additional requirements may apply to reuse.

## Who is behind the Local Preservation School?

This project is led by [Baltimore Heritage][2] with support from the National Park Service. The project lead for the Local Preservation School is [<NAME>][3], Director of Preservation & Outreach for Baltimore Heritage.

[1]:	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
[2]:	http://baltimoreheritage.org/<commit_msg>Update About with link to Learn, Get Involved<commit_after>---
layout: default
title: About
permalink: /about/
---

## What is the Local Preservation School?

The Local Preservation School is an **open learning environment** where preservation advocates and volunteers share with people how to save and sustain historic places in their communities. Our goal is to teach you how to get involved with historic preservation in your community through free online courses, easy-to-use tutorials and fun projects. **Beginners are welcome!**

- Learn <a href="{{ site.url }}/2015/09/16/what-is-local-preservation-school.html">why we are working on this project</a>
- Learn [how we are working on this project]({{ site.url }}/learn/)
- Learn [how you can get involved]({{ site.url }}/get-involved/)

## Why is it needed?

Historic preservation can be a powerful tool for connecting neighbors around local history and culture, promoting community development through economic development and education, and empowering community residents to shape the future of their city. Unfortunately, many people do not understand how historic preservation can help their community. If you are already interested in preservation you still may not know where to turn for help getting started. We are building the Local Preservation School to make it easier to understand **why preservation matters** and **how to use preservation** to benefit historic communities and residents.

<a href="{{ site.url }}/background/" class="button">Read more about preservation education online</a>

## Who is the Local Preservation School for?

**You!** The Local Preservation School is a community-based project with opportunities for people from all backgrounds to participate—not just historic preservation professionals or specialized experts. We are focused on historic preservation in the United States but we hope that the resources we are developing may be useful to people around  the world.

## How challenging or difficult are our courses?

Many of the concepts or skills required for historic preservation are simple—how to take a good photograph of a building or how to plan your first walking tour. Other topics—understanding how preservation review works at the local, state and federal level—can get a bit technical. Some activities may ask you to learn how to use a new piece of software or web application. Whenever you find challenging material here, we'll try to provide you with everything you need to know using free resources from around the web.

## Is it free?

All our online materials are **free** and **open**. What does open mean? The [Open Knowledge Foundation explains](http://opendefinition.org/):

>“Open means anyone can freely access, use, modify, and share for any purpose (subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness).”

In support of this principle, resources developed by the Local Preservation School team are published under a [Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication][1]. In some cases, we have adapted existing resources published under a Creative Commons Attribution or Share-Alike license where additional requirements may apply to reuse.

## Who is behind the Local Preservation School?

This project is led by [Baltimore Heritage][2] with support from the National Park Service. The project lead for the Local Preservation School is [<NAME>][3], Director of Preservation & Outreach for Baltimore Heritage.

[1]:	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
[2]:	http://baltimoreheritage.org/
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