At a time when funding for survivor-centered organizations is tightening, public conversations about basic rights are increasingly polarized, and those of us doing work at the intersection of art, advocacy, and social justice are under unprecedented attack, the mission of Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) has never been more essential—or more at risk.
Through our testimonial writing workshops for survivors of gender-based violence and other social injustices, and our narrative advocacy trainings for those seeking to think in new ways about the power, purpose, and ethics of storytelling, our award-winning organization continues to develop a global community of voices, faces and storytellers who are calling injustice by its name, and calling the world to confront it.
The last 16 months have been uniquely challenging for Center for Story & Witness. Despite these challenges, we’ve created more change in more ways than ever before.
- We broke new ground in Marrakech, Morocco, and Tbilisi, Georgia, partnering with UN Women and our allies at the grassroots to launch Local Storytelling, Global Change, a narrative advocacy training for rising gender justice and human rights leaders.
- We brought The Stories We Tell, our trauma-informed, two-day testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence, to 7 US cities, partnering with a list of host organizations that includes the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, FreeFrom, Sanctuary for Families, and University of California-Riverside.
- We debuted The Future Isn’t Going to Write Itself, a public conversation on how to respond to those in power who seek to “disappear” stories of injustice, in Brooklyn, NY and Chicago, IL, centering writers Jimmie Briggs, Ruchira Gupta, Anne K. Ream, R. Clifton Spargo, and Jamia Wilson in a conversation that feels more urgent than ever.
- We partnered with the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale, bringing Bearing Witness, a community conversation on the art and ethics of storytelling during times of high political conflict, to New Haven. Our goal? To engage faculty, students, and community members in an inclusive, timely public program.
- We deepened our ongoing alliance with the International Research and Exchanges Board, serving as a host organization for their global fellows program, while supporting the storytelling development of the next generation of gender justice and human rights leaders.
- We spent meaningful time in community with our allies, serving as a delegate to the Skoll Global Forum; bringing a keynote conversation to the World Without Exploitation National Convening; speaking at Justice for Migrant Women’s Raizado Festival in Aspen; and driving a main stage dialogue on story and social change at Printers Row Lit Fest, one of the country’s largest book festivals.
- We were awarded the America’s Best Charities Seal of Excellence for the 16th year running, a designation given to groups that meet the highest standards of public accountability and cost effectiveness.
In the face of unprecedented challenges, Center for Story & Witness has had a purposeful and productive year. And we’re poised to do even more in 2026.
But we cannot do it without you. So please, give as generously as you can.
Your gift of $1,000 will provide books and educational materials for up to 15 writer-activists … $2,000 will provide a full, two-day scholarship for a survivor of gender-based violence waiting to take part in a workshop … and $25,000 will allow us to bring our Stories We Tell writing workshop to a partner group eager to offer it in their community.
Every gift matters. Any size donation will help us create change.
It’s never been more urgent that we speak and write truth to power. So thanks, in advance, for your support.