Welcome to the Llano Grande Center’s Digital Storytelling Toolkit
his toolkit is a collaborative production shared by the Llano Grande Center, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and fellows from the Kellogg Leadership for Community Change (KLCC) series. The Llano Grande Center, a nonprofit organization located in rural South Texas, agreed to develop this toolkit, but only if it could be done in partnership with its KLCC friends from across the country. While much of the writing for this toolkit was produced by staff members of the Center, many of the stories were contributed by fellows from across the KLCC family.
Our most valuable resource has been the people from KLCC—a nascent and innovative model for collective leadership development. We were part of the first session of KLCC, with other sites including Buffalo, New York; Flathead Reservation, Montana; Eastern Cibola County, New Mexico; Twin Cities, Minnesota; and Northwest Wisconsin. Together with Session II sites including Bellingham, Washington; Benton Harbor, Michigan; McDowell County, West Virginia; Denver, Colorado; and Chelsea, Massachusetts, KLCC represents an emerging story on the challenges and successes for creating collective community change. Digital storytelling has surfaced as one of the tools to enact change, as well as connect communities through technology training, relationship building, and most importantly—very powerful stories.
The toolkit is many things: it’s a philosophical treatise on the power of the narrative form; it’s a technical guide to enhance the personal story through digital technology; and it’s a celebration of the stories of emerging community leaders from different corners of the United States. In the stories, we see how both individual and collective action can generate community change and more just communities. This toolkit is one example of what a dedicated collective can do. The toolkit was developed through the efforts of South Texas KLCC fellows Karina Cardoza, Eric Dávila, and Juan Ozuna; as well as KLCC host agency staff Ernesto Ayala, Francisco Guajardo, Delia Pérez, Maria Yvette Rodriguez, and Steve Wilson. This collective worked on story, content, and logistics for the past year and a half to execute an idea born from our fellowship into an initiative on digital storytelling we call Captura.
As you read along, learn and immerse yourself in the stories. Also, realize that you are becoming part of a tapestry of nationally-connected storytellers practicing collective leadership and transforming communities. As with all tools, it is up to you to utilize this toolkit to its fullest potential.
We hope you find this toolkit useful. And that you are inspired to join the emerging digital storytelling community and create an impact.
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