Restoration programs senior manager, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana Darrah Fox Bach cultivated her love for the outdoors in her native San Francisco, where environmentalism flourishes and Saturdays were devoted to hiking. She moved to Louisiana to study at Tulane University, and stayed for an AmeriCorps position with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL). When a job opened up at the non-profit advocacy group, … Continue reading Darrah Fox Bach
Kristian Bailey is a farmer, and he also considers himself a land steward and teacher. At Orais Hand Farm, located across the road from the Mississippi River, he is trying to move away from the idea of human dominion over nature. Instead, he is working in cooperation with it.
Kristian talks about farming with “tenderness”: recognizing that Southern land carries wounds (his own farm is on a former plantation site) and that part of his job is to help heal those wounds. Continue reading Kristian Bailey
Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Chief Devon Parfait spent his early years in Dulac, a bayou community at the edge of Louisiana. He caught fish from the dock, bounced on his neighbor’s trampoline, and went out on his grandfather’s shrimp boat. But Hurricane Rita destroyed his family’s home in 2005, when he was 8, setting off years of displacement. The extended family migrated inland and … Continue reading Chief Devon Parfait
For this series, we are partnering with longtime friend and journalist Barry Yeoman. Based in Durham, North Carolina, Barry has lived and worked in Louisiana and has written extensively about the complexities of culture, environment, and economy along the state’s coastline. You can learn more about Barry’s work here. Together, we crafted the arc of the series and identified the specific people to interview. Barry … Continue reading Still Here: Stories from a fragile coastline
Last month we visited Big Sky, Montana for the third year running, to work with the Montana Summer Institute. Their Science of the Positive approach is rooted in the study of how positive factors impact culture and experience. In short, it is less focused on admiring the problems of the world, and more interested in fostering and growing the factors that lead communities toward the … Continue reading Montana Summer Institute
In Northern Ireland, we coordinated several studio days in different locations around the country. We wanted to hear stories of healing in the wake of their sectarian violence known as the Troubles. As we often do, we partnered with existing groups who are already doing good work on the ground in an effort to amplify voices of hope and healing. We partnered with the Women … Continue reading Northern Ireland studio
This trip to Northern Ireland was an experiment. We set out to see if it was possible to line up and gather a series of stories that could get at the heart of how that place has navigated their history of sectarian violence. How they have moved toward healing. And the work that is left to do. I was traveling with our three summer interns … Continue reading Exploring Hope: Stories from Northern Ireland’s Healing Journey
We spent the first part of April in residence at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. It offered a chance to reconnect with students, faculty, and staff who I met last summer when I joined them in Northern Ireland. It gave me the opportunity to work a little closer with Kaitlin, Kate, and Sawyer, who are finishing up their junior year at Willamette and will join … Continue reading Willamette
April is child abuse prevention month and a great time to share the work we did last month in Durham, NC with the Positive Childhood Alliance of North Carolina. For a few days, practitioners and advocates gathered to talk about best practices for supporting families and communities, not just to reduce child abuse, but to foster the conditions where all children can thrive. Human services … Continue reading Positive Childhood
A Peace of My Mind brought our process to the Brain Injury Association on Nebraska and asked, “What do you want your community to know about brain injuries?” The short answer is, “A lot.” The room was filled with practitioners and advocates as well as people who had sustained and survived brain injuries themselves. And of course, sometimes those were the same people. I am … Continue reading Brain Injury
