Green Card Voices

FOUNDED IN 2013, GCV IS A MINNEAPOLIS-BASED MIXED-MEDIA, STORYTELLING NONPROFIT THAT SHARES IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE NARRATIVES IN ORDER TO FOSTER AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE. OUR STORYTELLING MEDIUMS (BOOKS, VIDEO, PODCAST, EXHIBITS) FEATURE AUTHENTIC, FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS TOLD BY THE IMMIGRANTS, ACTING AS A COUNTERWEIGHT TO THE NEGATIVE RHETORIC AND PREVAILING STEREOTYPES ABOUT THE CURRENT WAVE OF IMMIGRANTS. BY CREATING EMPATHY FOR THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE, WE GENERATE A BREAKTHROUGH IN HOW IMMIGRANTS ARE PERCEIVED AND INTEGRATED, REDUCING BIAS AND CHALLENGING THE UNJUST NORMS THAT ARISE FROM SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION. STORIES NOT ONLY EMPOWER THE TELLER, WHOSE LIFE EXPERIENCES AND UNIQUE CONTRIBUTIONS BECOME VALUABLE AND VALIDATED THROUGH SHARING, BUT THEY ALSO EDUCATE THE BROADER PUBLIC AND HELP US SEE HOW WE ALL SHARE THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING HUMAN.

WE ACHIEVE OUR PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND OUR MISSION THROUGH ONLINE VIDEOS, TRAVELING EXHIBITS, AUTO-BIOGRAPHICAL BOOKS AND TEACHING GUIDES, SPEAKING EVENTS, STORY STITCH CIRCLES, AND A PODCAST. OUR 500 ONLINE VIDEO NARRATIVES OF IMMIGRANTS FROM 140 COUNTRIES ARE VIEWED 350,000 TIMES ANNUALLY. WE HAVE DISPLAYED OUR 9 TRAVELING EXHIBITS AT OVER 200 LOCATIONS AND THEY HAVE BEEN VIEWED BY OVER 100,000 PEOPLE. OUR ELEVEN BOOKS HAVE SOLD CLOSE TO 35,000 COPIES SINCE MAY 2016. OUR BOOKS HAVE WON SEVERAL NATIONAL AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST MULTICULTURAL NON-FICTION CHAPTER BOOK FROM THE MOONBEAM CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS, AND OTHERS. WE HAVE HELD IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL BOOK READINGS AT SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, UNIVERSITIES, CONFERENCES, WRITING FESTIVALS AND CHURCHES THAT HAVE REACHED OVER 25,000 PEOPLE. OUR STAFF HAS GIVEN LECTURES AND DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE TWIN CITIES IN SCHOOLS, AT ORGANIZATIONS, WITH PUBLIC AGENCIES, AND AT CONFERENCES. THESE PRESENTATIONS OFTEN INCLUDE IMMIGRANT STORYTELLERS. TOGETHER WITH 70 COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL, WE CO-CREATED STORY STITCH, A CONVERSATIONAL CARD DECK DESIGNED TO FACILITATE TELLING STORIES, OPENING MINDS, AND HELPING PEOPLE GET TO KNOW THEIR NEIGHBORS. WE'VE SOLD 5,000 DECKS, TRAINED 130 PEOPLE IN STORY STITCH CIRCLE FACILITATION, AND ENGAGED OVER 100,000 PEOPLE OF DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS IN DEEP STORY SHARING. IN MARCH 2020 WE USED THE CO-CREATION PROCESS TO COME UP WITH VIRTUAL STORY STITCH WITH ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. WE'RE IN THE MIDST OF TRANSLATING THE STORY STITCH CARDS INTO 6 LANGUAGES: KOREAN, ARABIC, SPANISH, NORWEGIAN, HMONG, GERMAN. IN NOVEMBER 2019, WE LAUNCHED A PODCAST AND SHARED A STORY OF AN IMMIGRANT ONCE EVERY 2 WEEKS ON EVERY MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORM. WE PIVOTED THE PODCAST SERIES TO #LOVEYOURASIANNEIGHORS IN RESPONSE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND THE INCREASED CASES OF XENOPHOBIA ACROSS THE COUNTRY. BEYOND ALLYSHIP IS OUR NEWEST CONVERSATIONAL SERIES FOCUSED ON THE WAYS IN WHICH A VARIETY OF CULTURAL AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES CAN STAND IN GREATER SOLIDARITY WITH OUR BLACK COMMUNITIES.

INTENTIONALLY BLANK