​Principles of Storytelling for Organizations, Business, and Movements

Course Description

Principles of Storytelling for Organizations, Business, and Movements is about the power of story. The course focuses on the fundamentals of nonfiction storytelling, an essential tool for communicating with, connecting to, and engaging targeted audiences.  The class explores, investigates, discusses, and puts into practice the elements of narrative –what makes a story a story, and how to tell it. We learn from nonfiction narratives in words, sound, still image, moving image, and various multimedia combinations.

Principles of Storytelling for Organizations, Business, and Movements is not just platform-agnostic, it is also purpose-agnostic.  As communications professionals, we tell stories (or help and direct others to) for many reasons: to inform, to educate, to create awareness, to advocate, to fundraise, to influence policy, to build community, to motivate, and inspire to action. Nonfiction storytellers work “embedded” and freelance for media outlets, nonprofits, NGOs, and civic associations; in communications departments in (to name just a few) government, education, and health care; and in the corporate world. Nonfiction storytellers also support their work through grants and contracts, and by monetizing their creative efforts (podcasts, etc.)

Final Assignment description

Create a storyboard – a graphic representation – of the story you've been working on all quarter. This is a tool to organize your material and plot a narrative, section by section, scene by scene. A storyboard is created by a series of squares, each representing a section (information) or scene (narrative action).
Include your opening scene. Write this scene with a maximum word count of 500.

The core creative assignment for the term is the finding and shaping of a story, which involves significant background research (the larger context) and whatever it takes to gather the material necessary to plot the “small story.” Your choice of media/ platform to tell that story is dependent on the story itself and such important factors as the needs of the organization, access, resources, audience, and ethical concerns. ​What does this story deserve?  What is possible?  What tells it best?

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"The other victims of COVID-19, Kids in Judicial System limbo"

Opening Scene

Maggie clenches her teddy bear tightly, and studies the strange faces in the courtroom. She's used to relying on body language to know if she's safe, but today, she can't tell if her auntie, social worker and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) are scared, angry, excited or all three.

Then, the man sitting up-high asks her a question. "Miss Maggie, would you like to live with Aunt Dacia forever?" 

Abused and neglected children who's parents are in the judicial system and have been assigned a Court Appointed Special Advocate, believe it or not, are the lucky ones. The wait list for kids who need a guardian ad litem has doubled since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

​Fortunately, this little girl doesn't know that her adoption has been delayed for over two years. She doesn't know that her father recently died from a drug overdose and her mother remains homeless. All she knows is that "aunt" Dacia, her foster mom, is always there to keep her belly full and her mind busy.

​​Six months earlier, Maggie waddles into the kitchen after bedtime with her blankie dragging behind. Dacia, scoops her up and prepares a sippy cup as the four-year-old curiously looks me over. In 2020-2021, Family law court hearings were canceled and delayed, putting kids like Maggie in limbo. While the system is now backlogged, despite online hearings, the most vulnerable population will suffer the consequences for years to come.

After Maggie is settled back in bed, Dacia transitions from caretaker to exhausted warrior. “It's been really hard not knowing what to tell her. We just focus on what's in front of us and take it one day at a time. She asked me if she's going to live with me forever and I know it's hard for Maggie when I can't give her an answer. Kids need stability. I can give her food and shelter, but what's going on inside her little heart? Inside her head?” Dacia said.

​On a recent visit with Kate, the little girl’s mom, Maggie had an absolute meltdown when her mom left. Unfortunately, this happens every time they say goodbye. Maggie’s mother was high and clearly very stressed out about impressing the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) social worker.

“It's not fair. They just took her away from me. It's not my fault I lost my job. I'm lucky I have a car, otherwise I'd be on the street. How am I gonna take care of her? I don't know.” -Kate

Dacia is prepared to adopt Maggie. The home study was rescheduled several times, but time is running out for Maggie’s mom to stop using drugs and show the court that she can provide stable housing.

Research

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, children at risk of abuse and neglect were under-reported by 42%. (CASA of the Heartland seeks volunteers, 2021 tinyurl.com/usux3ad2)

While its impact is universal, there is widespread evidence to show that the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the most vulnerable among us the hardest. For children who have experienced abuse or neglect or for those who are at-risk of maltreatment, social isolation and economic uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 has turned things upside down—support networks disrupted, critically important services suspended and foster homes in short supply. (Advocating effectively during a pandemic, 2019. https://nationalcasagal.org/news-events/covid-19/)

A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained volunteer who is appointed by a judge to advocate for a child, or children, in foster care. A CASA is an independent voice for the child’s best interests throughout the time the child is in foster care. (What is CASA? https://www.kingcountycasa.org/what-we-do/)

The CASA/GAL movement started Seattle juvenile court judge, David W. Soukup in 1976. He had insufficient information to make a life-changing decision for a 3-year-old girl who had suffered from child abuse. “I looked around that courtroom and there was really no one there that could only speak up for that child,” he later recalled. (Celebrating 40 years of impact, 2022 https://nationalcasagal.org/celebrating-40-years-of-impact-a-message-from-the-ceo/)

In dealing with this issue, the nationwide CASA program invested funds to educate audiences in large metropolitan areas. This effort resulted in a lot of press coverage in newspapers and television news shows. The call to action was for people to donate to CASA or volunteer. As CASA was founded in Seattle, CEO of National CASA/GAL Association for Children, Tara Lisa Perry issued a press release on January 28, 2022 recognizing the significance of the program and thanking volunteers. She reminded readers that every 45 seconds a child enters foster care.

CASA of Pima County recruiter Angie McBride studies show that abusers become more violent in an attempt to feel a sense of control. And increased stress increases the risk of abuse on children. "Abusers unfortunately their only coping mechanism at times is to abuse or neglect others," McBride said. (CASA seeks new volunteers to help abused children through pandemic, 2020. https://www.kgun9.com/news/coronavirus/casa-seeks-new-volunteers-to-help-abused-children-through-pandemic)

​Since the CASA program began, close to a million Americans, from all over the country and all walks of life, have answered the call to become impassioned volunteer advocates. (Celebrating 40 years of impact.)

“We know that the pandemic caused more stress on families, which put more children at risk of abuse and neglect,” said Heather Dion, executive director of CASA of Central Oregon. “When these children come into foster care, they need an advocate to speak for them. Right now, there are 73 children waiting for a CASA volunteer.” (14 volunteers sworn in as Court Appointed Special Advocates to support children in foster care, 2021 https://ktvz.com/community/community-billboard/2021/10/29/14-volunteers-sworn-in-as-court-appointed-special-advocates-to-support-children-in-foster-care/)

“It’s so sad to think about what’s happening to these kids, but then to think they endured more suffering behind closed doors during the pandemic,” she said.

“Our child waitlist is children who do not yet have a volunteer, but the judge has asked for them to be assigned one. Our waitlist was about 43 in the May/June timeframe, and it is now 105,” she said.

She said a CASA volunteer is the eyes, ears, and voice of the children. The volunteers are keeping an eye on the children and the system, she said. They watch what is going on around the child and with the child and they listen to the child as they build a relationship and trust, speaking for them as their voice in court.
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Hatfield also noted that CASA studies show that children will do better in school if they have a CASA volunteer. She said a child is also less likely to re-enter the system if they have had a CASA volunteer. (CASA of the Heartland seeks volunteers, 2021. https://www.thenewsenterprise.com/news/local/casa-of-the-heartland-seeks-volunteers/article_fcd744ab-07fd-545c-9c8a-837d6d263883.html)

Closing Scene

Despite it all, despite the traumatic experience Maggie has been through; placement in the home of a stranger for an undetermined amount of time, a multiyear pandemic that estranged her further from the life she knew… despite all that, today, the court has ruled in her favor. 

Maggie has a safe, forever-home at Dacia’s and will have visits with her mother. 

The little girl stomps happily out of the courtroom, now that the concerned faces surrounding her seem at ease.  

Trailing behind Maggie, Dacia sends a group text message to her family and friends who are already gathered to celebrate the adoption, waiting to welcome the victors home.