Narrative 4 (N4)

Before officially creating N4 in 2013, my co-founder and I had been working for over a decade to establish a global network of artists and activists who wanted to change the world with a new type of leadership. Artists (especially writers and musicians) break down barriers and shatter stereotypes every day by virtue of their trade, and many have recognized the need for further action for decades. I convened a group of N4’s future key advisors for a strategic planning summit in 2012, and the gathering was explosive. Together we envisioned a new model for arts-based leadership and social engagement and six months later N4 was founded. This new global arts network was designed to harness the power of stories to build capacity for compassion — especially among and for the under-served, underprivileged and communities in conflict — using story-based arts to help participants unlock their human potential and create positive, action-based change in the world around them. The Elevate Prize will dramatically increase our global reach and impact, as well as help us reach our ultimate goal to make N4 part of every school in the world so that young people lead and live with understanding and civic-mindedness.

An excellent education is a golden ticket. My parents beat every odd in rural Appalachia. They earned multiple degrees before my mom landed a job as a PE teacher at a private school. By some miracle, I was accepted and got the experiential education most can only dream about. This led to a lifetime of travel, incredible job opportunities, cultural experiences, and hard (but exciting) work. I have played myriad sports with athletes from Kenya, India, Australia, Afghanistan, and beyond. I have walked on the beaches of Normandy with veterans who returned for the first time in 50 years after helping secure a WWII victory on D-day in 1944. I have explored countless stories of people in the anonymous corners of the world. Every organization I have built stands on the shoulders of the previous, and all of them have been fueled by the potential and power of young people. I know what can happen if their potential goes untapped and I have seen the nuclear power that arises when kids learn from—and inspire—one another. My vision is to help N4 revolutionize education and equip all young people to explore the world, learn from it, and change it.

N4 emerged as a response to two studies, one reporting declining reading rates among youth (“Reading at Risk,” 2008) and another indicating an empathy gap in affluent youth (“Power, Distress, and Compassion,” van Kleef, et al.). The organization was founded to transcend these challenges, born from the belief that better listening, reading, and writing skills can reverse the empathy deficit and help build greater trust in our world, one mindful and meaningful interaction at a time. We have since evolved into a global organization, reaching four continents, 42 countries, and 36 US states through our radical empathy-building programs that equitably meet students’ social and emotional needs, inspire civic engagement, and transform the education sector.

Today, N4 is a global network of educators, students, and artists who use art and storytelling to build empathy between students while equipping them to improve their communities and the world. Using our core methodology, the story exchange, we help students understand that their voices, stories, and actions matter, and that they have the power to improve their lives, their communities, and the world.

N4’s work is innovative because we harness storytelling—the most accessible and universal of all human activities—to break down barriers, shatter stereotypes, and develop action-oriented empathetic leaders. We equip educators, students, and other community advocates with the tools and training they need to practice and teach radical empathy. While our story exchange methodology is relatively simple (you are paired to share a true story from your life with a partner based on prompts, then retell your partner’s story in the first person in front of a larger group), its impact leads to data-proven empathy shifts.

Furthermore, we have recently built upon this core methodology with a comprehensive programming mix to sustain empathy increases over the long term and inspire tangible action:

-We have converted books written by renowned authors into learning modules, with content co-created by authors, educators, and students, and delivered by teachers in classrooms.

-Our Empathy-into-Action campaigns drive hands-on community service projects that help partner communities in need, inspire civic engagement among students and reaffirm the conviction that we can navigate and heal our divided world by acting together.

-Our global Artist Network of world-renowned authors and musicians contribute their greatest skills by developing materials and engaging with students. 

Our core belief—that through the exchange of personal narratives, humanity will see the world, and engage with it, more empathically—is supported by the experiences of story exchange participants and our research from the University of Chicago and Yale University. Though many factors contribute to increased empathy and a positive school climate, research shows that our program fosters empathy and builds relationships between students, teachers, and staff, increases school engagement, and decreases conflict between students. We found that, on average, all students who participated in story exchanges at one of our partner schools showed increased levels of empathy right after doing story exchanges. Lower-baseline empathy students maintained those immediate gains after ten days, and all students saw their partner as more similar to themselves. Additionally, since partnering with N4, one school has reported increased attendance rates, increased graduation rates, and decreased rates of suspension. N4 is primed to significantly scale this impact; in the US alone, our plan is to reach 84 cities, 2,664 schools, and 5.7 Million students by 2025, with the potential to carry out over 360,000 story exchanges.