April Callen

Where We Thrive: Affirming People, Place, and Race Through Narrative Change

Every neighborhood can be a pathway to opportunity and prosperity for the people who call it home, but race often determines the ease of that pathway. Purpose Built Communities and the Purpose Built Network partner with local residents to execute a holistic model for equitable neighborhood revitalization in communities around the country experiencing the effects of historic and chronic race-based disinvestment.

Part of the success of our work depends on a new narrative. In 2020, we engaged the FrameWorks Institute to help us unpack the story being told versus what story we should be telling to affirm people, place, and race. Those efforts birthed the "Where We Thrive narrative project," which launched in 2023 and gives advocates more complete and considerate language for talking about the beauty of Black and Brown neighborhoods while highlighting the historic and ongoing harms through policy and practice.

Session participants will:
1) Learn about best practices for a collaborative research process;
2) Receive practical recommendations and strategies for telling affirming stories about neighbors and neighborhoods and communicating with dignity; and
3) Learn about how to best engage residents and local partners in shared narrative change efforts.

Participants will have an opportunity to apply these lessons to their own work and ask questions for shared learning.