New Orleans Survivor Council Story Circles

The Story Circle approach was used as a meeting facilitation tool by the New Orleans Survivor Council, a grassroots organization formed by the People’s Organizing Committee in the post-Hurricane Katrina environment.

The Council was made up of Hurricane Katrina survivors from the lower Ninth Ward that organized a grassroots community-building effort that included increased public housing, repairs to blighted properties, trainings in construction and building skills for residents, rebuilding of churches, schools and other institutions, and other initiatives.

The New Orleans Survivor Council used the Story Circle approach to collect the input and discuss the needs of survivor communities.  In an effort to ensure the input of all those affected, regardless of age, gender, economic class, etc., the Story Circles gathered community members, designated a facilitator, and allotted equal time to each circle participant to share his or her input.  Each person’s contribution could be a response to a specific question, a reflection or story, or some other format.  The initial contribution period was followed up by a shorter second round from the circle and a concluding period allowing for cross-circle conversation and follow-up planning.

Story Circle meetings were used to list out the major problems and issues that were then sub-divided into agreed-upon working groups.  The smaller working groups then used the Story Circle approach to allow participants to share ideas for potential solutions. The Story Circle facilitator would summarize the ideas that came up during the Story Circle and individual members would take on responsibility to research each potential solution. The committees would regroup to share the proposed solutions and the available information on each.  At this point, the Story Circle was used to evaluate each solution and make a plan to follow through on it or send it back to the drawing board for further discussion.