This session will focus on understanding how the stories we tell about our communities affect our ability to improve them. How do the stories we tell about who is hungry and why they are hungry impact efforts to end hunger? How do stories of people experiencing homelessness fit into a larger narrative about what success looks like in the U.S.? Just as a frame of a picture highlights an image and tells your eye where to go, humans use stories to help the listener’s brains focus on specific details and ignore others. It happens when we tell a neighbor about an issue affecting our hometown, when activists highlight stories on social media to inspire people to vote, or when corporations produce a commercial to highlight their social responsibility. The better we understand how these processes work, the more likely we are to achieve positive change in our communities.

Learning Objectives: 

• Understand the influence of community narratives on systems change
• Learn practical strategies for shifting community narratives