Mission Statement
HCN Founders
2006 Annual Report
Heritage Conservation Network was founded by two women with a strong, almost inexplicable attraction to dilapidated old buildings, appreciating their beauty and their history alike. Inspired by this love of historic buildings and understanding their value to the community, Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe collaborated on an innovative approach to preserving historic buildings. By organizing volunteer vacations that bring people to sites around the world, HCN is able to provide hands-on skills training, support community-based projects, and offer a great cultural experience while helping to save the world’s architectural heritage.
Heritage Conservation Network’s hands-on approach makes it possible for people to literally get in touch with history. Projects, in the form of building conservation workshops, are developed in response to requests for assistance received from around the world. An expert is brought to the site to teach and lead participants in their work. Each workshop is unique, with instruction and tasks tailored to meet the needs of the individual building or site. Volunteers, from near and far, work alongside members of the local community to preserve their cultural heritage.
You may wonder why, in a world with many pressing challenges, we focus on saving historic buildings. The fact is, historic preservation is a powerful tool for change. Consider the need for new jobs, safe housing, sustainable economic development, reducing waste and combating global warming. These are all areas where historic building preservation can play a strong role. HCN’s workshops provide training in skills that enable communities to restore, maintain and make use of existing buildings. This keeps valuable building materials out of landfills, reduces the need for newly manufactured goods, and creates jobs in historic building maintenance as well as heritage tourism.
HCN volunteers work at a broad variety of project sites, from small log or stone buildings to imposing 19th century mansions. Regardless of size, style, or condition, they all represent their community’s history and heritage.
Not all sites that request assistance are suitable for a hands-on workshop. In these cases, we draw upon our network of conservation specialists who are often able to provide the information or technical assistance needed.
To bring a significant historic site to our attention, you may Suggest A Workshop. In selecting a site, priority is given to a site that:
- has historical significance to the community or country in which it is located;
- needs the assistance of volunteers to lower costs of conservation work, which otherwise may not be able to proceed;
- involves partnership with a local organization.
To help provide for long-term, sustainable conservation of the workshop site, members of the local community are invited to participate at minimal or no cost. HCN seeks grants and corporate funding to cover the cost of project materials and of bringing in expert conservators. Workshop participants pay a fee that covers their expenses. In exchange they receive skills training, hands-on experience in conservation, the opportunity to experience the local culture while restoring its history, and, some would say, the experience of a lifetime.
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Mission Statement
Heritage Conservation Network supports community-driven projects around the world directed toward the conservation of architectural heritage. Through a network of experts, volunteers and community members, HCN increases awareness of the significance of historic structures, provides hands-on training in building conservation skills, and assists in the completion of projects, all in support of sustainable development and long-term economic growth.
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HCN Founders
Judith Broeker is one of the founders of Heritage Conservation Network. She loves poking around a historic site with her camera, looking for remnants of 
the building’s history. After pursuing several other careers, she decided to get serious about historic preservation, and earned a Master's degree in History with an emphasis in Historic Preservation. Her experience ranges from work at a non-profit organization directed to save the historic built environment; research in a major university archive; work with the US National Park Service on National Register and HABS/HAER documentation; to working as a preservation specialist on materials conservation.
Judith has had specialized training at remarkable historic sites such as the Native American Acoma Pueblo, the historic city of Kula, Turkey, and at an old guest ranch in the Rocky Mountains as well as other locations. Combining travel with hands-on training in adobe conservation, lime plaster technology, and masonry and wood conservation was the source of her idea for HCN’s hands-on volunteer vacations. After running successful pilot projects emphasizing adobe and log conservation techniques in Colorado and Wyoming, USA, she joined forces with Jamie Donahoe to develop Heritage Conservation Network.
Jamie Donahoe is one of the founders of Heritage Conservation Network. She blames her parents for her interest in old houses, having grown up in a house that was built in 1824 and to this day does not have adequate heat. She received a Master's degree in Preservation Studies from Boston University in 1987, after graduating from Hamilton 
College with a degree in American Studies. Jamie has lived and worked overseas since 1996, and currently lives in Hong Kong. Realizing that her interest in 19th century domestic American architecture was not particularly applicable in this phase of her life, she decided to go global and co-founded HCN in 2001 with Judith Broeker, a colleague from her days in Boulder, Colorado.
Jamie has worked with heritage conservation projects and programs on the local, national and international levels and with organizations ranging from local non-profit historic preservation organizations to the U.S. National Park Service and UNESCO. In addition to Hong Kong, she has also lived and worked in Croatia, Thailand, Switzerland and the United States.
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Together....we can build a future for the past
If you would like information about corporate sponsorship opportunities,
please contact us at jbroeker@heritageconservation.net.
To make a donation, see Support HCN.
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