Project summary: High school students and other community authors in New Orleans report and write nonfiction stories, publish them in high-quality books, and earn royalties from their work. The project advances media justice and fosters civic dialogue about the issues shaping life in New Orleans.

Narrative challenge: How do you support authors in telling stories that are truthful, owned by the people who live them, and capable of contributing to healing as well as public understanding?

Evaluation metrics: The number and diversity of publications, book sales and royalties paid to authors, continuing involvement of authors in the organization, and the use of the books in educational and community settings.

Related links:
Neighborhood Story Project
Books, exhibits, events, and courses
Narrative Arts Story Guide

In 2003, after a shooting at John McDonogh High School in New Orleans, two local students were interviewed by a newspaper reporter. According to the later account that shaped this case study, the resulting story distorted what they said and left their families worried about their safety. That experience pushed teachers Rachel Breunlin and Abram Himelstein to create something different: a process in which young people could tell their own stories, in their own words, with real ownership over the final result.

That principle became the foundation of the Neighborhood Story Project: our stories, told by us. Founded in 2004, the organization works with students and community members to produce books, exhibits, events, and courses that share the complex stories of South Louisiana with each other and the world.

“People are at work on creating and moving their own narratives forward, and hopefully creating lives of beauty and interest. Their time and energy is fundamentally meaningful, and their ownership of stories is at the crux of where that conversation should be.”

— Abram Himelstein

Media justice begins with authorship

What makes the Neighborhood Story Project especially important is not only that it teaches writing, interviewing, editing, and photography. It also changes who gets to be seen as an author, an expert, and a narrator of public life. Instead of sending outsiders into neighborhoods to report on people, the project supports residents in documenting their own communities and publishing work of lasting value.

That is a media justice intervention as much as an educational one. Community members are not treated as sources for someone else’s story. They become the writers, interviewers, photographers, and rights-holders. Authors earn royalties, and some are also paid speaking fees, reinforcing the idea that their knowledge has public and cultural value.

Storytelling, civic dialogue, and local culture

The project began with students at John McDonogh High School, then expanded into a broader practice of collaborative ethnography that has documented many parts of New Orleans culture and everyday life. The organization’s current site describes its work as books, exhibits, events, and courses sharing the complex stories of South Louisiana, which shows how the effort has grown beyond a single school-based publishing model while keeping community authorship at the center.

That expansion matters. It means the work is not only about youth voice. It is also about preserving neighborhood memory, documenting local traditions, widening public understanding, and helping New Orleans speak to itself across lines of class, race, generation, and geography.

Why this case study still matters

This case study still speaks directly to current questions about storytelling and power. Who gets to tell the story? Who benefits from it? Who is paid? Who is seen as credible? The Neighborhood Story Project offers one compelling answer: build structures in which people tell their own stories, publish them beautifully, and participate in shaping the public narrative of their city.

At Narrative Arts, that is one reason this example continues to matter. It shows that storytelling can be educational, literary, civic, and economic all at once. It can support healing without giving up truth. And it can help communities create more accurate and more dignified representations of themselves.

For more on our current approach, visit the Storytelling and Social Change Strategy Guide and explore more at Narrative Arts.

Read: Visit the Neighborhood Story Project to explore its books and learn more about the community authorship model behind titles such as Before and After North Dorgenois.