Narrative 4

Background

Narrative 4 was founded in 2012 by a group of writers and activists and describes itself as a global network of educators, students, and artists that use storytelling to build empathy and connections with high school students across the world. ³ The organization says it works in 18 states across the United States and in 16 countries spanning four continents. ⁴

Narrative 4 was founded by veteran nonprofit executive Lisa Consiglio and Irish author Colum McCann. ⁵ The Narrative 4 global headquarters is in New York City, and the group maintains a second office in Limerick, Ireland. ⁴ Narrative 4 supports various events across the world and holds an annual global summit. ^{5 6}

The organization claims to focus on using storytelling to develop empathy and tolerance among high school students through peer-to-peer learning initiatives between students from very different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. This includes paring students from major metropolitan areas with students from very rural areas. ⁵

Story Exchange

The group established the Story Exchange program to help students develop in the arts and creativity. The exchange pairs individuals with one another to share a story that in some way defines them, and the organization claims to have facilitated thousands of exchanges around the world. ⁵

Through the program, one individual tells the other individual’s story by reading it in the first person. Narrative 4 claims that that the exchange of personal narratives can change the way people see themselves and the world, using the research as a foundation for the exchange initiative. ⁵

Narrative 4 have paired students from a Bronx high school with students from a rural Kentucky high school and students from a wealthy Connecticut high school with students from a high school in a low-income area of Chicago. ⁵

Narrative 4 has established partnerships between students across the United States and also in Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom. ⁷ In 2018, the program reached 17,500 participants around the world with a partnership of 600 facilitators. ⁶

Aside from storytelling initiatives, Narrative 4 organizes the Empathy into Action program to promote grassroots community activism on environmentalism, interfaith communication, and immigration around the world. ^{5 4}

A University of Chicago study of the program determined that 81% of student participants in the Story Exchange had an increase in empathy while 91% said their perspectives expanded. ⁶

Major Donors

In January 2021, NBC Universal included Narrative 4 among 10 “social impact” nonprofits to which it donated a total of $100 million in grants. ⁸ Jackie Bezos, president of the Bezos Family Foundation, is a major donor to Narrative 4. ⁹

Separately, Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, included Narrative 4 among 116 organizations to which she contributed a total of $1.7 billion in July 2020. ²

Political Issues

McCann, an author and co-founder of Narrative 4, weighed into the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2020 with the book Apeirogon, the story of how one Israeli man and one Palestinian man forged a bond after both of their daughters were killed. ¹⁰ The organization has also set up conferences between adults on differing sides of major political issues, including immigration, gun control, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. ¹¹

In 2016, Narrative 4 and New York Magazine sponsored a conference in New York on gun violence and brought people from across the country with differing perspectives on the gun control debate. In most cases, a Second Amendment activist or gun seller was paired up with a gun control activist or victim of a shooting for a conversation on gun control. ¹²