About the Dream
The Power of Storytelling
Communities of Color have used storytelling to share history, bring awareness to issues, teach children cultural values, and create paths to freedom. Since the introduction of social media, folks have taken this historic practice of sharing stories within local or cultural communities to new heights- creating global social change movements. We are the Dream Digital Storytelling Project exists to connect this movement of mass storytelling and collective action to the community-specific, policy-changing movements that have been happening off the main stage. We have created a digital space to share stories and build community while holding true to our belief that storytelling is a tool for radical change. By curating this free digital library of stories we aim to provide critical perspectives and truths to fuel the work of those who are already pushing for change, inviting the people, our people, to be the voice of their own narratives, aspirations, expectations, and movement.
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Our Mission, Purpose, and Vision
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Our mission is to end the harm happening to students of color in American classrooms and school spaces by disrupting the existing narrative about our children, the educational system, governing policies, and standards. ​
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We are cultivating a space that creates opportunities for folks to share their voice, in real-time. Historically, conversations about policy and systems have happened behind doors, at times that many parents and families aren't able to be present. If 2020 taught us anything, it is that these antiquated processes for decision-making don't have to continue to be the norm. Gil Scott Heron said the revolution would not be televised but it will, without doubt, be a trending topic, and the narratives about what is happening in American schools and communities will no longer be dictated by the same media giants that perpetuate harmful stereotypes about students of color, immigrant families, and anti-Black tropes.
The actions of our collective serve as evidence of how the voices, experiences, and needs of unheard folks should be incorporated into every aspect of decision-making. We know that it is hard to imagine, but we will persist in our mission, as we have persisted as the Dream.
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The Digital Storytelling Collective
We are storytellers- parents, caretakers, students, teachers, artists, activists, preachers, and much more. We are Black, Latinx, First Nation, Asian, Indigenous, Pacific Islanders, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. We are every variation of folks who have been othered and oppressed by systemic racism. The stories we tell highlight the countless barriers that block our educational success, social and economic mobility, and financial independence while also demonstrating the brilliance we all encompass as we navigate systems that don’t work for us, and lean on our imaginations to build the world we dream of.​
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Our partners are grassroots organizations founded and run by folks from the communities they serve. The organizations we partner with have invited their members, colleagues, friends, and students from their community to share their stories, opinions, and aspirations via self-recorded videos, shot on their own phones, and featuring their own voices, perspectives, experiences, and aspirations.