Our writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence travels to Dallas, Los Angeles, New Haven, NYC, Los Angeles, & Washington, DC this fall. Apply now! | | | | |
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A Center for Story & Witness testimonial writing workshop for refugee girls in Nairobi, Kenya.
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This fall, Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) is bringing its award-winning testimonial writing workshop, The Stories We Tell, to 5 U.S. cities. Designed to help those who have lived through or witnessed gender-based violence use their personal stories to create political or social change, this creatively ambitious, trauma-informed two-day program is as powerful as it is purposeful.
Led by Center for Story & Witness co-founders Anne K. Ream, an activist and the author of the critically praised book Lived Through This, her memoir of a multi-country journey spent listening to sexual violence survivors; and novelist R. Clifton Spargo, a lecturer in creative writing at Yale University and a graduate of the acclaimed Iowa Writers’ Workshop, The Stories We Tell isn’t just developing writers. It’s creating a global community. Applications are required; accepted applicants are given full two-day tuition scholarships.
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A special thanks to a special supporter.
Our Fall 2025 Stories We Tell testimonial writing workshop series is being made possible by a valued Center for Story & Witness ally - and fellow survivor and writer - who has chosen to anonymously support our workshop participants, making it possible for us to provide full, two-day tuition scholarships to all accepted applicants. You know who you are - just know that we appreciate you!
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Center for Story & Witness Managing Director Aimee Bravo and Community Solutions Program Fellow Warda Bouye, co-creators of The Power to Change
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The Power to Change: Our Healing Through Storytelling initiative debuts in Morocco this month. | | |
Center for Story & Witness is excited to announce The Power to Change, a groundbreaking storytelling and narrative advocacy initiative taking place in Marrakech, Morocco on July 25 & 26, 2025. This project, developed in partnership with IREX and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, seeks to uplift community-driven stories in powerful, purposeful, and change-creating ways.
A narrative advocacy program developed in collaboration with Warda Bouye, our Center for Story & Witness Community Solutions Fellow who hails from Morocco, The Power to Change is designed to support healing, connection, and cultural transformation through the power of personal narrative.
Center for Story & Witness is proud to serve as one of only 70 U.S.-based organizations selected by IREX and the US Department of State to host a Community Solutions Fellow this year. We cannot wait to support Warda’s vision for healing and transformation in Morocco!
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Center for Story & Witness Co-Founder Anne K. Ream in dialogue in Oxford, UK. Photo: Major Moments
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It’s time to resource a global gender-justice movement. How do we get there? | | | | |
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In advance of this years Skoll World Forum at Oxford University, a collective of change making organizations that included Collective Future Fund, me too International, FreeFrom, Women’s Funding Network, and our longstanding Center for Story & Witness partner organization, Justice for Migrant Women, brought together a global community of feminist leaders, movement organizers, artists, activists and funders to explore how we can better resource and sustain the fight to end gender-based violence.
Anne K. Ream, co-founder of Center for Story & Witness, was one of those leaders. The day's conversations went beyond funding, emphasizing the power of solidarity, shared strategy, and mutual care as we build a more just, compassionate, and violence-free world.
Center for Story & Witness is honored to be part of a global community working to transform how we respond to violence, and grateful to our meeting conveners. Onward to next year!
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THE STORIES WE TELL:
A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence.
Co-led by Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo.
July 12 & 13, 2025
Simmons Center for Global Chicago
Chicago, IL
September 13 & 14, 2025
The Jensen Project
Dallas, TX
October 3 & 4, 2025
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Washington, DC
October 11 & 12, 2025
The Jackson School at Yale University
New Haven, CT
October 25 & 26, 2025
Sanctuary for Families
New York City, NY
November 8 & 9, 2025
FreeFrom
Los Angeles, CA
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THE POWER TO CHANGE:
Healing through storytelling in Morocco (a partnership with IREX and the US State Department)
July 26 & 27, 2025
Collaboration for Community Impact
Marrakech, Morocco
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STORIES. POWER. YOU:
A Narrative & Legal Advocacy Training for Chicago-based Youth, presented by Center for Story & Witness, Forte Foundation and Champs.
July 28, 2025
Simmons Center for Global Chicago
Chicago, IL
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THE HAROLD WASHINGTON LITERARY AWARDS:
Keynote by National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Sandra Cisneros; opening remarks by Selection Committee Co-Chairs Anne K. Ream & Bette Cerf Hill.
September 5, 2025
A Printers Row Lit Fest Event
The Union League Club
Chicago, IL
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ABOUT CENTER FOR STORY & WITNESS
At Center for Story & Witness (formerly The Voices and Faces Project) our mission is to cultivate and share stories that bear witness to gender-based violence and other social injustices in order to change minds, hearts, and public policies. Through our testimonial writing workshops, our narrative advocacy trainings, and our performances, publications and campaigns, we seek to create measurable social change through the power of narrative.
For 16 years, we have been awarded the America’s Best Charities Seal of Excellence, a designation given to organizations that meet the highest standards of public accountability and program/cost effectiveness.
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