by Sarah Smith-Moore, Senior Community Engagement Specialist
It was nine months after ten strangers anxiously entered our Tulsa office, beginning a workshop centered on one of the most vulnerable and sensitive injustices that human beings should not experience: lack of food access.
Ten people, once strangers, connected through their shared experience of food insecurity, gathered at the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, ate delicious hors d’oeuvres and cake, and celebrated their graduation from Hunger Free Oklahoma’s LEARN (Lived Experience & Resource Network) Workshop, alongside their family and friends. The room was filled with brightly colored balloons, children’s laughter and playfulness, and conversations of support and actionable ideas could be heard at each table. These moments substantiate what I have always known to be true; a relationship-centered approach that values lived expertise is the pathway forward to solving hunger. LEARN Workshop graduates bring expertise shaped by personal experiences, and their powerful stories give a unique insight into hunger and food insecurity that data alone cannot capture.
What is Storytelling and Why is it Important?
Storytelling is the art of communicating our emotions, experiences, and ideas. Through storytelling, we are creating connections to our lives for an audience to engage with and immerse themselves in. Building a personal narrative transforms our experiences into a catalyst for effective policy and advocacy.
Unbelievably, not all stories are viewed as equal, and many folks never get to share their story. We hope to reshape that narrative by creating space for people to return to their experiences, gather the words that have been waiting to be spoken, and give voice to the feelings they have been carrying. By sharing these stories, we bear witness to the intersectional complexities of food insecurity and hunger that may not be understood from outside perspectives.
As one of the facilitators of LEARN, I do not take the responsibility of assisting and bearing witness to story lightly. Joe Lambert, co-founder of StoryCenter in Oakland, California, eloquently identifies and describes the experience of sitting down with someone who comes to you with a story – not yet constructed – to share. He describes the storyteller as standing at the edge of a river with an obscured bank and strong current, with the urgency to get across. What the storyteller needs is not someone to build the bridge, the boat, or whatever mechanism it is to get across. What the storyteller needs is someone next to them who can tell them that this body of water rising against their feet – the uncertainty, the fear, the pressure – is the story appearing in front of them attempting to be told. The role of facilitators is to be at the water’s edge with them – helping them to find, not build, the tool with which they can get across the river. This is the story work that we do at LEARN Workshop.
What is LEARN Workshop?
To amplify the voices and innovative ideas of people with lived experience, Hunger Free Oklahoma launched the LEARN Workshop in 2024. LEARN Workshop is an eight-month compensated program that expands policy, advocacy, and storytelling skills for people who are currently experiencing food insecurity and hunger. Each participant receives monthly compensation for their time spent in the workshop held one Saturday a month with one virtual check-in. HFO provides meals and transportation; mileage and childcare reimbursements are available, if needed. Hunger Free Oklahoma partners with a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) to ensure we are creating trauma-informed spaces when engaging lived experts who are sharing traumatic experiences relating to the intersections of poverty.
Upon graduation, LEARN Workshop participants are invited to join our LEARN Network, a coalition of lived experts who work to advance anti-hunger policies and nutrition program improvements at the state and federal levels. LEARN Network members also receive compensated opportunities to give media interviews, attend coalition meetings, participate in listening and feedback sessions, and develop presentations and panels for conferences.
If you have lived experience of food insecurity and/or hunger, I leave you with remarks I share with all our graduates – your story is powerful. Your story does not diminish your brilliance, it deepens it. You are not alone and you are not less. You are the expert of your experiences, and your advocacy is extremely important. When we come together for an improved Oklahoma with powerful stories and advocacy skills, we are building collective impact across political parties and beliefs. We can do it together!
Our third LEARN Workshop begins in September, and applications are open July 15 through August 16. If you or someone you know is interested in applying, please visit our website to learn more.