Storytelling for Change

What are you called to do, and why? Who are your people, and what are their values? How do we call our people to act with us on the urgent issues we face now? These three questions combine to frame the craft of Public Narrative, a leadership practice rooted in community organizing and values-based communication.

The past few weeks have shown yet more violence against immigrants, youth, and communities of color in the US -- with conditions growing increasingly uncertain and urgent we have decided to come together to combat this crisis. As a way to respond to this moment of uncertainty, The Arc of Change, a Boston-based leadership training organization, is offering a Public Narrative workshop to enable community members to articulate values and call others into purposeful, collective action.

The craft of Public Narrative engages both the “head” and “heart,” as narrative can uniquely instruct and inspire — teaching us not only why we should act, but moving us to act. We have seen Public Narrative skills enable people of all kinds to achieve incredible change — from the Obama campaign, the Dreamers Movement, organizers fighting medical corruption in Serbia, to youth transforming mental wellness in New Zealand. This is a world-renowned course also taught at Harvard University that enables leaders to resist oppression and support communities who can and must author their own solutions.

Full-day Workshop Content: In this full-day workshop, participants will learn to tell the story of why they are called to leadership (Story of Self), the values of the community within which they are embedded that call us to collective leadership (Story of Us), and the challenges to those values that demand urgent action (Story of Now).

Pilot Coaching Program: We are now offering a limited number of spots in our coaching track for anyone who has previously participated in a Public Narrative workshop. Coaches in Training will participate in a 3-hour Coaches Prep session before the workshop, shadow an experienced coach, join coaches’ team meetings, and receive individual 20-minute coaching sessions with their lead coach.

Participants must attend the full day, with no exceptions. Check-in will begin at 8:30 AM, with the training starting promptly at 9:00 AM. Due to the small-group and personalized nature of the training, we will not be able to accommodate all who are interested. If you are interested in applying to participate this special training and can commit to the full day, complete this application no later than July 13. We will let individuals know by early the week of July 16 if they were accepted into the training.

Note: We offer sliding scale tuition for this workshop. Requests for scholarships will be made upon acceptance into the program, and will not affect your eligibility.