In March, we hosted Marisol Bello from the Housing Narrative Lab to lead a storytelling workshop for our 2022 grantee cohort! At the Housing Narrative Lab, Marisol helps uplifts the stories of people facing homelessness and housing insecuirty and the systems that keep them from finding and keeping a home.

When onboarding this year's grantee cohort, many showed interest in professional development opportunities, including learning the best ways to leverage the wins of their organization for additional support.

During the workshop, Marisol touched on the importance of advancing transformational narratives, how stories are essential to narrative change, and how to adapt our stories for social media and writing funder reports.

Here are some of our key takeaways:

- People take action based on their beliefs and feelings. Facts and numbers are important, but are less motivating for the general public

- Stories are one of the best ways to connect with your organization's community

- When telling a story about your organization's work, always pair it with a call to action

- Consider your audience when deciding the story to tell and tailor the moments you choose to share based on who is receiving it

- Focus on positive sentiments and feelings that people can connect with instead of hardships or negatives that your organization deals with

Thank you to the Housing Narrative Lab team for working with our grantees to tell their incredible stories!