Take One Small Step with StoryCorps
If you are worried about the divides and the chaos in the country, if you are tired of the shouting, if you are asking “What can I do to help?” here is one answer: Take One Small Step with StoryCorps.
Join our email list to record with StoryCorps, receive project updates, and a matching questionnaire.
One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us—even those we disagree with politically.
Since 2018, more than 1,000 Americans in 40 cities have taken part. Now, we’re expanding our effort: anyone anywhere can record.
Help us begin undoing the idea of “us” versus “them” in the United States in four steps:
- Sign up to join the One Small Step email list
- You’ll receive a questionnaire to participate in One Small Step. Fill it out.
- We match you with a stranger across the political divides to have a 40-minute virtual conversation about your lives. These sessions remind us that it’s hard to hate up close. Each interview becomes part of American history at the Library of Congress.
- Spread the word about One Small Step to your family, friends, neighbors and beyond.
About the Initiative
StoryCorps has perfected a method for helping people feel more connected and for reminding us of the inherent worth of every person and every story.
Now, we are doing something different. We are asking people with different political views to record a StoryCorps interview with each other. Why?
- To remember our shared humanity.
- To remind us that we have more in common than divides us and that treating those with whom we disagree with decency and respect is essential to a functioning democracy.
How to Participate
We’re matching strangers from different points of view for conversations about who they are. Anyone, anywhere can sign up for our email list and complete our matching questionnaire to have the opportunity to be paired with a stranger for a One Small Step conversation. Sign up now.
This year, One Small Step will anchor in four of our country’s most politically diverse cities: communities that are culturally, historically, and demographically distinct, and that we believe can lead the way in showing us all what is possible when we take time to listen to the opinions of people with whom we disagree.
We are matching residents and partnering with local organizations in these communities to record with a StoryCorps Facilitator or train to record on your own using our tools:
With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, StoryCorps is also collaborating with six public radio stations to match residents, facilitate, and broadcast conversations in their local communities throughout the year:
Partner with Us
We want to activate local communities around this project. To achieve this, StoryCorps is seeking partners that represent various political backgrounds and that can recruit, orient, then enlist their constituents in recording interviews. If you are interested in working side-by-side with StoryCorps to make these exciting and enriching conversations come to life, please contact us at [email protected]
Recording on your own
StoryCorps provides tools so you can record your own One Small Step conversation with someone you know using our own platform StoryCorps Connect. The conversation will be entirely self-guided by you and your conversation partner and takes place in a virtual video conference room.
Download (PDF): One Small Step: DIY (Do it Yourself) Guide
Featured Voices from One Small Step
About the Initiative
The Golden Rule
Support For One Small Step
One Small Step is made possible by the generous support of The Hearthland Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Charles Koch Institute.
