At our latest virtual #HFGather, we had a great conversation about impact and empowerment for kids. Our friends at the Rise-Home Stories Project shared about how they used a community-based approach to bring a story together. We welcomed moderator Luisa Dantas (Rise-Home Stories) and panelists Jisu Kim (Feminist Press), Letitia Hernández (author), Rob Liu-Trujillo (illustrator), Mike Leyba (City Life/Vita Urbana), Julia Steele Allen (Rise Home) and Anna Lee (Working Films). The panelists were the creative team behind the book Alejandria Fights Back!/¡La lucha de Alejandria!. In the story, Alejandria brings her community together to fight eviction and save the neighborhood. They gave us a fascinating look at how activists came up with the bones of a story to meet a particular need, and then worked in partnership with the author, illustrator, and a mission-driven publisher to bring this educational resource to life. The panelists chatted about:

• What anti-displacement organizing looks like in the real world.
• How kids are organizing and taking action right alongside their parents.
• Full representation: how important it is to be writing and drawing black and brown characters.
• Trying to create a story that shows a young person with agency.
• How it’s important to create new, non-confining narratives for kids, because narratives inform how we understand the world.

You can watch the #HFGather recording below. Please note: we have added closed captions to the video below; if you don’t see them, hover over the bottom of the video and choose the “CC” icon. Find out more about the book here. An educator’s guide and a community guide are in the works. Find out more about author Letitia Hernández Find out more about illustrator Rob Liu-Trujillo Find out more about The Feminist Press Find out more about the Rise-Home Stories Project Rise-Home Stories is an organization dedicated to crafting a visionary, shared narrative framework; building collective power through creative process; and centering the voices of frontline/impacted communities as creators and protagonists.