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End the week with a good story...
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The One Minute Weekly
July 26, 2019

WHAT WE'RE CONTEMPLATING:
The power of stories to move the needle...
Joining and working together, employees of The Annie E. Casey Foundation prepare for the story exchange. Photo credit: Lee Keylock

Last week we headed to Charm City—aka Baltimore, Maryland, USA—to kick off a partnership with The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) during their Midsummer Convening. We had the honor of facilitating a story exchange with over 200 of the foundation's employees under the conference theme of joining and working together. The AECF does vital grant-making and policy work to develop a brighter future for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social and health outcomes. In addition to helping build trust and camaraderie among co-workers, our time with AECF raised an important question: How can we use the power of personal narratives to address the systemic injustices that plague our most vulnerable populations and to effect greater societal change? We're on it and, as always, would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

WHAT WE'RE SEEING:
Real examples of turning empathy into action...

Meanwhile, in the Friendly City—aka Port Elizabeth, South Africa—N4 Master Practitioner Zukiswa "Zuki" Allah—led a two-day story exchange with young girls at ArtWorks for Youth (AWFY). AWFY provides free visual art instruction, academic support and mentoring while reinforcing the transformative power of creativity.

Zuki's original plan was to lead a co-ed activity, but she quickly recognized that the girls needed their own space to share their powerful stories of being young, black and female in South Africa. Zuki told us, "While these young women have spent over two years together in the program, this exchange was the first of its kind. They got to form deeper bonds and I'm sure will build better relations going forward." The session ended with laughter, hugs and singing, and the girls requested more opportunities to meet regularly and share. After the exchange, Zuki and her co-facilitators realized many of the girls' stories centered around menstruation and not having access to sanitary products. So Zuki and her team pooled their funds to buy supplies for the girls and are planning a drive to gather more resources in the near future.

This is what empathy into action looks like.

Share today. Change tomorrow.


 
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