Frontline communities should own their stories. With this self-guided technical assistance, you can take steps to tell stories on your own time and at your own pace.
Counter-Narratives
A Toolkit for Storytelling and Narrative Sovereignty
Stories catalyze change. This toolkit features practical guidance for frontline community-based organizations to tell, share, and own their stories.
Get Started!About the Toolkit
Who
This is an educational tool built for community-based organizations (CBOs) serving frontline communities who want to share stories digitally, archivally, or through collaborations.
What
Inside, you’ll find best practices for storytelling with narrative sovereignty in mind, tools for acquiring technical storytelling skills and strategies for successful storytelling collaborations.
How
This toolkit combines years of research, technical assistance programming piloted with FRI’s grantees, and collaborations with storytellers and media experts from across the environmental justice movement.
Toolkit Contents
Storytelling Basics
What is a story? What is a narrative? What about narrative sovereignty? In this section, you’ll learn more about the definitions, concepts, and key environmental justice storytelling practices that inform this guide. If you’re looking for a place to start, it’s here!
Building Technical Storytelling Skills
Once you know what stories you’d like to tell, start here for the how. From digital storytelling to oral histories to advocacy, this section contains technical insights for your organization to tell your stories on your terms.
Collaboration
Interested in collaborating with another organization or media professional, like a photographer, NGO, or journalist? In this section, you’ll find guidance on deciding whether a collaboration is right for your organization, identifying the risks of collaboration, and navigating these relationships while maintaining narrative sovereignty.
Conclusion
Closing thoughts from the FRI team, proposed next steps, and acknowledgements to the collaborators who made this work possible.
Glossary
Want a quick definition? Our interactive glossary has a wealth of environmental justice storytelling terms, concepts, and resources.
Additional Resources
There are so many excellent storytelling resources out there; we can’t possibly cover them all! Here, you’ll find a library of vetted storytelling resources from other organizations. If we haven’t covered something in the toolkit, you’ll find it here.
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Transform your stories into real success
With more awareness and attention on environmental and climate justice communities from news outlets, event organizers, content creators, policymakers, and others, storytelling is more important than ever. Start here to learn the basics of storytelling, and how to own your community and organization’s story.
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The ultimate storytelling guide
Facts alone don’t change the world—narratives do. Sign up to get sharp, actionable storytelling frameworks designed for researchers, environmentalists, and frontline advocates.