← We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
626. Building a Renewed Narrative with Community (and breaking old story myths!) - Rebecca Bernard, Tim Lampkin, Vivan Borja, Stacy Huston
00:35:20
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- [00:01]
John
Hey, I'm John.
- [00:02]
Becky
And I'm Becky.
- [00:03]
John
And this is the We Are for Good podcast.
- [00:06]
Becky
Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more, and be more for the causes that improve our world.
- [00:15]
John
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
- [00:24]
Becky
So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
- [00:34]
John
So let's get started. Hey.
- [00:37]
Stacy Houston
Hey friends.
- [00:38]
John
Welcome back. Today I am so excited to share a conversation with you from this mic drop panel that we hosted over at Virtuous Responsive Nonprofit Summit. So let me set the stage. We gathered four amazing humans for a conversation around building a renewed narrative with community. We are breaking down old story myths. We are leaning into our own superpowers. And this conversation was so fire. We're so excited to bring it to the podcast today. So here you're going to hear from Stacy Houston, Rebecca Bernard, vivian Borja and Dr. Tim Lampkin as they share how rewriting harmful narratives and co creating our stories with community and then ultimately using storytelling as a tool for systemic change has been the bedrock at each of their organizations. So before we jump in, I want to introduce you to each of these amazing humans. You may know them from listening to the podcast, but Stacy Houston, she is the executive director of SixDegrees.org she's also casually the executive producer of Kevin Bacon's award winning podcast. She's also the CEO of Entertain Change where she partner partners with entertainers and organizations to really drive transformational campaigns that spark action and systemic change. So excited to have Stacy with us. You're also going to hear from Rebecca Bernard. She's no stranger to the we are for Good world. She's part of the amazing team at the Teaching well. She is a storyteller, a strategist and a community builder. She's the director of Innovation at the Teaching well and she's the founder of two bilingual schools in Los Angeles. Her work really centers around educator wellness, transformative learning and and global impact. And then let me introduce you to Vivian Borja. She is the EVP and Chief Marketing officer at Food for the Poor. We love that team so much. She has a deep background in global marketing and strategy, but she also brings us lens of data driven and culturally fluent approaches to nonprofit storytelling. And Dr. Tim Lamkin is the founder and executive director of Higher Purpose Hub. It's this nonprofit that's driving economic opportunity right into the Mississippi Delta. He's a longtime community development leader and a social impact strategist. When Dr. Tim talks, we straight up listen. So what an honor to have these fire panelists with us. Okay. As we kick off this panel, I want you to think of the answer of what you would say to this, too, because this is something that we all, you know, have a perspective on. But my question is, if you could rewrite just one story being told right now in the sector, it could be about you or the communities that you serve, what would that story be, and what's the truth or vision that you'd replace with it? Here's what each of them had to say.
- [03:08]
Rebecca Bernard
So many times communities are seen through the lens of what they lack rather than what they already have. So the story I would like to replace is the one that says communities are passive because the communities are really capable. They're ready to rise, and they just need a partner who will believe in them enough to walk alongside them, not forever, but long enough to help them take the lead.
- [03:36]
Vivian Borja
I love that agency and the co building with community is something we're going to get into. Tim, I want to kick it over to you, and I'd love to get your hot take on this.
- [03:44]
Dr. Tim Lampkin
Well, absolutely. I think for the last couple of years, we've been in a unique position as a country, even globally, thinking about how do we find resiliency, not only in the stories that we have been told, but the stories that we tell ourselves. And so I think for us, particularly as we are thinking about in the context of shifting narratives, what we had to do is really get out of this deficit mindset that there's not enough funding, there's not enough resources, and really take a different posture of understanding that our work is valuable, that it deserves to be resourced, that it deserves to be seen, that our voices deserve to be heard. And I think for quite some time, particularly in the context of where I work here in the Mississippi Delta, in rural communities, we are the last to be thought of. And so to really, really reframe some of the conversation around kind of underserved, to underestimate it. So we believe that we've been underestimated for quite some time. And we push against this narrative that we are underserved because we think that that type of reframing and pushing against this old and unwanted actually narrative allows us to really take back our power and agency. And then that turns into very productive and more upbeat conversations when we're talking about resourcing our work with donors and foundations, because it's a different type of language and it's a different type of posture and confidence that we're bringing to the table. So it allows us to really think about that. And I've seen time and time again where our work is dismissed not necessarily because it's not great, but because there's a lot of preconceived notions about what the work is and what it's not. And even in the context of where we do the work, and us really being the own narrators of our stories allows us to really reclaim and really root our work in agency. And so when there is some type of misunderstanding about what the work is, we're able to really root it back into the facts, but also to remind people that our work is human centered, human focused, and so calling people to find and remember the humanity. As we're having these conversations around this very important and also, as I like.
- [06:27]
Vivian Borja
To describe necessary work, I mean, so powerful. We had a really deep dive into this conversation with Tim on the podcast. Tim outlines this framework beautifully for those who really want to go into a reframe. Rebbe, what's bubbling up for you in this?
- [06:43]
Rebecca Bernard
Well, we've been hearing in the last year or so that wellness and education is dead. We saw this huge, meaningful uptick, right? And support around wellness and teacher sustainability that was really needed after what was an unparalleled experience for educators nationwide. Fast forward to today. There's this notion that we tried that and it didn't work. Schools are still struggling. Teachers are still struggling.
- [07:13]
John
It's true.
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Rebecca Bernard
Educators are not okay. We need to continue to dig into and support the needs of our most trusted allies and raising our next generations. And the truth is that transforming 100-year-old plus culture in schools, a system that, mind you, was never designed for some of us to be well, it's not going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen in three to four years. And so the work that we've been doing at the teaching well is really holding a vision that all teachers can be well, that all educators can be well, and that we can create a system that better sustains and supports the folks that we're ensuring. We're placing our youth in their hands, right, to create future generations that have the tools that they need to build a world where we can all thrive. And that's the myth that we've been working actively to debunk. And some of the good trouble we've been up to.
- [08:13]
Becky
Hey friends. It takes a lot to power a movement as mighty as the Impact uprising. And we couldn't do it without We Are For Good's Value aligned partners.
- [08:21]
John
Yeah, you're right. Our partners make it possible for us to keep showing up with free education tools, series summits and resources because they believe, like we do, that investing in people and community creates real, lasting change.
- [08:33]
Becky
So if you're looking for a trusted partner to help you find a new tech solution, a CRM, maybe a new direct mail strategist, or you're even looking for an entirely new brand partner, start here. We've curated a direct line for your VIP access to these groups. Just by saying you're with We Are for Good.
- [08:51]
John
Yeah. Big gratitude to our ecosystem partners at Donordoch, Feather, RKD Group and Whiteboard. They're not just partners, they're walking alongside us to build something better and more inclusive.
- [09:01]
Becky
Head to weareforgood.com Rex to explore our Go to tools and humans doing this great work. Lock arms for impact and put more fuel back into this community. That's weareforgood.com RECS now back to the show.
- [09:27]
Vivian Borja
So good. I just, I believe so much of the efficacy of the teaching. Well, you're doing it nuanced. You're doing it differently. You're doing it humanly. Stacy, take us over to 6 degrees. I mean, you're in the the throes of storytelling on the daily. What's coming up for you?
- [09:43]
Stacy Houston
For me, it's really this idea that what is happening is just one person, party or group's fault. I think the more that we otherize and don't take some collective responsibility and our shared reality right now as a sector, we won't be able to build those bridges that are going to be needed to get to the other side. And we have to really work on finding common ground. And I know that rattles some cages in the nonprofit sector because we're in it, right? And we're doing this work and we're seeing real pain and hur and it's scary for a lot of people. And we see that with all of our network partners that we do storytelling with. However, it really reminds me of something that I grew up hearing my aunt say, which is that you can be right and still lose. And right now I'm seeing that those that are on the line are our constituents, right? Those that are the most marginalized and are suffering and they really need us to figure out a way through. And they don't really need more animosity or righteousness, even if it is righteous. Right. They need us to figure out a shared path forward. So it's one of the reasons why I created the craft method, which is kind of that daily approach to looking inward about what we can do individually at our local level and focusing on how we grow our community from there. But that's what's really coming up for me.
- [11:11]
John
Okay, I told y' all this panel was gonna be fire, right? I mean, I'm so leaned in to this conversation, and I loved here, that we pivoted to starting to talk about breaking storytelling myths. And already there has been some powerful insights that it's clear that rewriting the story first begins with recognizing what narratives we've been carrying, and sometimes that's even unconsciously. So from here, we moved into a bigger question about what are some of the most persistent and harmful storytelling myths in our sector, and how can we begin to break those down? So the question that we asked was, what are some narrative myths that you have encountered, and how have you worked to break or rewrite those stories with your work? Here's what they said.
- [11:52]
Dr. Tim Lampkin
I think, overall, one of the biggest things that constantly comes up is this notion around the capacity to do the work in our sector. And I think when we are faced with that kind of narrative, we get stuck, and we don't move beyond kind of the deeper surface level of what we're really trying to accomplish. And I think as nonprofit leaders, going back to, like, Stacy's point, we have almost been conditioned in some ways to kind of stay in our silo. And I think what we have been able to see constantly emerge over the last couple of years is this calling for collaboration, and we build our capacity through collaboration. And so I think that's one big way that we kind of push against the narrative of whether our capacity is equipped or justifiable to meet the moment. We find strength in numbers, and we are able to really lean into all of the kind of the attributes that make our organization special, while also lifting up the great work of our partners, partners and collaborators, to be able to really rise above this capacity kind of narrative that oftentimes, particularly in smaller organizations, gets questioned around their ability to actually execute the work. And I think the other part of this is what we are learning more and more as donors and funders are recognizing that people that are closest to the problem are also closest to the solution. And that's not just a really cool thing to say, that it actually works when you invest time, talent, treasure into Local leaders that are rooted in place, that understand not only kind of the challenges, but also have the relationships to weather the storm beyond the trendiness of a particular. And so I think that allows us to rise above the tide and also push against this narrative that local leaders, again on that same thread, but a little bit deeper, in a different direction around the capacity allows us to push in a different direction with making sure that our local leaders that are on the ground, in the trenches have the adamant support, not just locally, but from a regional and national perspective.
- [14:45]
Vivian Borja
So good, getting a lot of affirmation.
- [14:50]
Stacy Houston
And I look at y' all knowing your work, y' all are also collaborative and how your missions show up. And Vivian, I want to ask you, what's one of these myths that you've encountered and how you're flipping a script.
- [15:00]
Rebecca Bernard
So a myth we're pushing back is against the idea that solving poverty, it's only about the physical things or the physical need. So, yes, absolutely. Food and housing and sanitation, all of those are crucial, but they are not the whole story. Right. Poverty also leaves a lot of emotional and spiritual wounds. So I think that that inner transformation in the communities that we serve is just as important as any structure we build. So I think it's really important in breaking narratives that they do take time, that the donors, the funders, all of us actually, in fact begin to see that the communities we serve are not only beneficiaries, but I would say they're really architects of their own future and that they can make the change. Right? And when we see that and when we understand that, that's when the real sustainable transformation takes root.
- [16:09]
Stacy Houston
So good y' all live this out. Thank you for that insight. Rebbe, what is this lifting for you, my friend?
- [16:15]
Rebecca Bernard
One of the narrative myths that we have been trying to rewrite is really this notion that teachers or interchange nonprofit professionals leave the field because we can't hack it it or aren't committed to the mission. And if you do love the work, you should sacrifice your own well being as proof. No, just no.
- [16:36]
Right.
- [16:37]
False. Right. You know, passionate change makers leave because they don't have the support that they need to thrive. Like, be it enough pay, strong leadership, interpersonal conflicts with their colleagues, lack of training, adverse, you know, work experiences. But what they do not lack is conviction or commitment. We come face to face with educators every day that continuously sacrifice for their students and their communities because the society, our society, hasn't valued their role enough to ensure that enough resources are put in place to support these needs. And you know, they shouldn't have to spend their own money to make sure that there are extra snacks in their classrooms for the students that are facing community. They shouldn't have to sacrifice time at home with their families, grading papers on the weekends, or skip meals or bathroom breaks, you know, causing damage to their own bodies because they don't have time to step away. But they do. And this was my mom for 30 years of her career as an educator and as a team of all former educators at the teaching. Well, that burnt out, really. We don't think it needs to be this way. It doesn't need to continue to be this way, that we can allocate the resources and create the conditions for folks to thrive. And that's really what we're trying to actively rewire by giving educators the tools and the support that they need to dismantle these harmful practices and keep them in their gifts. And telling that story and telling it well really is what's allowing us to inspire more educators to live into this vision and to really believe that for them and for their lives, this can also be their reality, that they don't have to succumb to a system that does not value or support them, and they can actually thrive.
- [18:21]
Stacy Houston
She is preaching a word over there.
- [18:23]
Vivian Borja
Wendy's right. She took us to church.
- [18:25]
Stacy Houston
So, Stacy, what's in your head right now as you're hearing this? Seeing the chats with so much affirmation. What's something you're rewriting?
- [18:35]
In our work? At 6dreams.org, we're focusing on youth empowerment, equity and justice, sustainable living environments, what we call emerging crisis. And so it's really easy to say there's a lot of trauma and injustice in that, and we minimize that if we don't focus on it, because it's just so critical, so heavy. But I think that the truth is that there's joy everywhere we look, in the people that we work with and the stories that are there to be told. For example, just this past weekend, it's Pride. And I got to go out to Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with my team, which is a very small, rural, charming little town in West Virginia. And they were celebrating their first ever Pride event. And I have to tell you, there was something truly beautiful in these stories. There was joy everywhere, right? And this is a community right now that is feeling kind of isolated and very scared. But people showed up. They showed up to smile and laugh and be in connection with one another. And so I think it's important to show the joy so that we don't frame anything as one dimensional. Right. That people are complex and they're multidimensional characters. And we need to focus on that vastness because in that is when we see kind of our commonalities, and that's when we can kind of see the humanity in each other. And so we're really focusing on bringing joy into more of these things to. To help ourselves too. Right. Like, this is a lot to ingest on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. And so we want to focus on joy as much as possible.
- [20:32]
John
Oh, my gosh. I don't think Stacy even meant to tee us up with what she said right there, but she hit on something that we really believe is the future, and that is simply that your mission story is not binary. It's not one dimensional, but it's viewed through this lens of every individual. And that's all around your organization. It's those who support it. It's through the high highs, and it's through the low lows and everything in between. So from there, we zoomed out to talk about how stories are actually made. Like, how does it come together not just what we say, because the real narrative change means sharing our power. So we ask our panelists, how do you meaningfully involve communities in shaping the stories being told about them? And what does true co creation look like? Rebbe from the teaching. Well, started us off with her approach.
- [21:18]
Rebecca Bernard
Yeah. What's the saying? History is written by the victors, and history has shown us how those in power craft what's remembered. And this is not always reflect the full scope of the truth or include the experiences of the marginalized. The history of education probably is not designed to look like me, but I'm in it. So this year we have really prioritized telling the stories from the mouths of our clients, which is something that's somewhat challenging for the nature of our work because, in effect, what we're doing is in a lot of ways, teacher therapy. And we want to share it ethically, we want to share it authentically, but we also want to honor the intimacy, the privacy, and the vulnerability of the work. So we've kind of grappled with how do we do this? How do we do this in a way that really and honors the lived experience of the folks that we serve, but also tells this story and brings people into that inspiring experience. And we employ in the past. We've always had, like, a pretty robust research and feedback cycle. Shout out to our OPS team, Marisol, for holding this down. Emily. We collect meaningful data from participants, but this year we had a really big aha around our impact story, which was effectively born out of our communication strategy to use video storytelling in a more meaningful way. And just an example, on the impact results page of our website, we have a video sharing the story of one of our Oakland based educators, Jenny, an amazing educator. She's at a school that we've been working with for three years now. And it was revealed in her honest sharing that this last year was her best year of teaching yet, that she was so stabilized and in her gifts that she was able to excel at teaching her students. But she was also the math chair, she was a mentor teacher, and her students had the highest math passing rate of her entire career, 92%. This is huge because I have collected that data in our data collection process because we study adults, we don't study the students in the room, but essentially that's what we're going for, right? Better supporting teachers so that they can better support their students. So having this come from Jenny's mouth and just like we were all like, oh my gosh, like this is, this is the data we need to start tracking is how are student outcomes shifting as a result of the adults in the building being well, so that's also feeding back into our research planning. But what we also started to do was link the story across stakeholders to tell a more cohesive story, right? The principals, the teachers, the, the OPS teams, like they're saying, I can show you better than I can tell you. And I feel like it really nailed that for us this year and helped us to shed light on what seemed before to be really a nebulous call to action and not a clear like sharing of our mission, but sharing these stories made that abundantly clear.
- [24:14]
Stacy Houston
Vivian, do you want to hop in here on this question?
- [24:16]
Rebecca Bernard
Thanks, John. So I'll go quickly there. So for us, true co creation means that communities really also help shape both the work, but also the stories we tell. So from the start, we focus on their strengths, not just the needs, and involve them in every step from planning to leadership. So I love the story of El Tablon, maybe because I've visited oftentimes there. And we didn't create a story for the community, we really amplified the one that they were already living. So that story, especially of the women preparing the school meals, that was just incredible. And one thing when we're doing this type of storytelling, one thing that I would like us all to always go back and is ask ourselves, are we honoring their truth? Because when communities own their progress and their Narrative, that's when the transformation happens, bringing us back.
- [25:25]
Stacy Houston
You're centering us. Dr. Tim, you want to hop in here?
- [25:28]
Dr. Tim Lampkin
Well, I think one of the things that we've learned in doing a lot of the storytelling is that oftentimes the folks that we're working with have never had anyone to just simply listen. And I think there is so much trust built in just listening and understanding and, you know, not from a place of sympathy, but from a place of what is our connection to this particular individual, this particular community. And so we've been able to listen as well as learn and then be able to craft very powerful stories that, that transcend. And I think that has allowed us to stay deeply rooted in community. And what we've also have seen is that through our efforts and support the empowerment of those individuals, being able to have the confidence to really talk about their story more boldly, more publicly, and with this really notion of a spirit of liberation that allows them to really be centered in all the things of, you know, who they are, whether they are entrepreneur and a mom and understanding kind of the dynamics of that, but also how they identify as someone that's living in rural communities. So I think there is a. There's a true art of listening, just like there's an art of storytelling. And I think sometimes we rush right into trying to capture the story. And oftentimes it's just really about listening to the people that we serve. And the other part of this too, I think, and Stacy was kind of pointing at some of this, is how the work also, in a very helpful and healing way to kind of Rebecca's earlier point, how the storytelling and co creation also helps us. And so I think there's a beautiful exchange in deepening in that relationship that happens when we're truly vested in co creating those new narratives.
- [28:00]
Vivian Borja
Listening is such a key component to this. And if I can tattle on myself, Becky 1.0, in her 20s, trying to write and put out stories for her nonprofit was her listening to someone and writing it, you know, based on my perspective. And that is such a 1.0 way to attack narratives and this beautiful way that we are, that we can listen and culture and figure out a way to allow our community's words to come forward, to allow their emotions to come forward, really create a mosaic that we want to know about. So, and Stacy, I think you guys do this so beautifully. Talk about your perspective on this.
- [28:43]
Stacy Houston
We are not the ones on the ground doing the work. Right? So community is everything. We are trying to help share Stories of those that are being served by these organizations that we're partnering with. And what I like to caution people about is you can do all the things right with having people with lived experience in the community on focus groups and part of think tanks and looking at your program development. But then so often when they're running towards a campaign or they're doing some type of branding opportunity, they're moving quickly. And no one with lived experience is as acting like a creative director that's saying, oh, that doesn't work. That doesn't leverage this person's story with dignity. Right. And so my advice is always to slow down. And even if you say we don't have the resources for something like that, one of the nice tips that we like to give organizations is create an advisory board where they're not on your board of directors, but they're just people that you can turn to with specific storytelling pieces, marketing components, anything that's going out externally and say, can you give.
- [30:00]
Rebecca Bernard
Some eyes on this?
- [30:01]
Stacy Houston
Like, we need some additional insight to make sure we're hitting the mark here. We're doing this in the right way. And so really tactical, but also, I think, really, really critical.
- [30:14]
John
So dang good. My gosh, the wisdom in this room was just palpable. And we wrapped the session by inviting each of our panelists, you know, to share one good thing. This is a tangible takeaway that we can act on today. And, man, the vibes were so high. I can't wait for you to hear what they said.
- [30:31]
Rebecca Bernard
I would say again, just for us to reflect a moment of reflection. And when we're telling a story about a community, if we can take five minutes, well, maybe that's too long, two minutes, and ask ourselves, have we made space for their voice, and are they the ones telling it right? That's how I would like to end. Again, it's honoring their truth. We become their voices. So we need to really represent.
- [31:03]
Stacy Houston
Beautiful. Yeah. So deep. So good. Dr. Tim, what you got for me?
- [31:08]
Dr. Tim Lampkin
Yeah, I was thinking that part of the responsibility I feel like all of us have as leaders of nonprofits and social enterprises is to often be accountable to, you know, our partners and funders and boards. And I think we also have to lean back into the accountability that comes from community and making sure that we have that kind of, you know, guardrail there to make sure that we're in the same tempo and cadence as our community, because we often have the opportunity to come in spaces like this and other places and folks that we are working with and Serving may not be as connected in the particular way. So how do we make sure that the accountability that we're bringing back what we're learning, that we're bringing back resources, that we're deepening our understanding about who we are as leaders and constantly making ourselves available and accessible to meet the moment.
- [32:33]
Stacy Houston
It's all about the connection and staying connected even as things grow and shift and change and all the chaos of our world today. Stacy, I'd love to hear from you, my friend. What's. What's something that's lifting is a one good thing.
- [32:45]
So recently you and Becky were there as well. I recently spoke at a conference where Carlos Whitaker had taken the stage as well. And he said something really profound that has stayed with me. I'm going to let it go. Which was don't stand on issues. Walk with people. And it just hits my soul, you know, we need to see the humanity in one another, even if we don't see eye to eye on all the things. People are going to offend you. Right. People are going to fall short. I will. You will. But conversation reveals community with one another. And in that community is where connection lives. And so if you want to. If you want someone to see your humanity and to be seen, then take some time to walk with them for a little bit, even if you don't want to. I think it is really going to be the differentiator of how we. We move through this time together.
- [33:46]
Love it so much.
- [33:46]
Vivian Borja
Bringing it back to common ground once again. I think that's it.
- [33:50]
Stacy Houston
Definitely check out Carlos Whitaker's work and his recent book. He kind of retreated and spent a lot of time alone time and really got reconnected to purpose, to humanity, to individuals. And that's such a centering place given this conversation today. Rebbe, what you got, my friend? How can the teaching. Well, bring us home, man?
- [34:08]
Rebecca Bernard
I'm still. I'm still. Don't stand on issues. Walk with people.
- [34:12]
Vivian Borja
I'm still right there between the eyes.
- [34:18]
Rebecca Bernard
I think we were all on a similar wavelength when we contemplated this question. Because what. What I landed on was the stories exist for those who listen. And in most cases, I found that the story wants to be told. Folks want to be seen. They want to share what they know. And many really do want to hear what you have to say. So my one good thing is to listen hard and capture the stories that want to be told. And don't afraid. Don't be afraid to keep tinkering in the lab. Don't be afraid to put your innovation. Glasses on and keep playing with testing ways to tell your story more powerfully. People want to hear what you have to say.
- [34:55]
John
All right, friends, that's a wrap. Can you believe the takeaways here? If you want to hear more insights like this, subscribe to our podcast or check out more of our upcoming gatherings over@weareforgood.com we'd love to hear from you too. Leave a podcast rating or review or reach out to us. Because what starts here ripples. We want the conversation not to just be in your ear pods, but to ripple out to whichever and whoever you're pouring into today. Thanks so much for being here, friends.