With support from a UK Land Grant Engagement Grant, the Storytelling for Engagement Community of Practice (SECoP) is helping bridge silos between community educators/developers and health/wellness professionals—groups that often work separately despite shared goals. Co-led by Drs. Nicole Breazeale and Margaret McGladrey, the SECoP equips scholars and practitioners across Kentucky with storytelling tools that deepen community dialogue, engagement in research/planning, and cross-sector collaboration.

The project launched with a three-day retreat in September 2024, bringing together 41 participants from diverse sectors including Extension, public health, local food systems, and community development. Nearly one-third (34%) of participants identified as BIPOC/Latin, and 24% as working-class or limited resource. Participants explored three story-based engagement methods (Photovoice, Story Circles, and Rasa Boxes) and began co-designing the future of the SECoP.

Since the retreat, SECoP members have led and participated in:

• A Narrative 4 virtual workshop (Nov. 2024)
• A storytelling panel for the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (Feb. 2025)
• A Photovoice training workshop (June 2025) with 38 attendees, including 23 new facilitators and 15 advanced practitioners. 11 participants new to  Photovoice were employed by Cooperative Extension. (Note: Photovoice is a community-based research technique)
  • 74% completed evaluations; 100% rated it excellent or very good
  • 89% said it improved their ability to work across sectors and see storytelling’s potential for systems change

In February 2025, a Ripple Effects Mapping evaluation identified key SECoP outcomes:

1. Personal Empowerment and Identity Alignment (individual level). SECoP participation prompted reflection and clarity around personal identity and professional purpose, inspiring career shifts and renewed energy for community work. One pair noted, "The CoP prompted us to think about how we tell our own stories and how we relate to these stories. We’ve reflected a lot on our identities and our authentic selves. And it helped both of us to find direction in our lives.” Since the REM, one member of this pair joined the CLD graduate program and the other applied for an Extension Arts position after a big career change.
2. Social Connection and Emotional Renewal (community level). Many reported the retreat offered a rare space for emotional connection and healing amid burnout. In the words of a participant, “The retreat was so profound. It was such a safe room from the beginning…There was no judgement, and it allowed us to have these encounters and walk away with our cups full.”
3. Applying Storytelling Tools to Transform Practice (organizational level). Participants actively applied Photovoice, Story Circles, Narrative 4, and Rasa Boxes in a wide range of settings—adapting the tools to fit local contexts and organizational goals. These methods helped educate decision-makers, deepen community engagement, and shift organizational cultures. “I learned so much about how I might use different storytelling methods in my work—and they are so powerful! They show impact and they educate folks who don’t necessarily have the same lived experiences. Like Photovoice. It’s another way to educate policy makers that they’ve never seen before. And I’ve also tried using rasa boxes. We leaned into them as a way to show emotions and processing.”
4. Beyond the Tools: Listening Deeply and Making Space for Voice (organizational level). Participants described how they have translated these new connections and storytelling principles into changes in how they engage with others, seeking to cultivate deep listening and foster more authentic, respectful, and welcoming interactions in their organizations and communities. One participant explains, “In Cooperative Extension I haven't been able to do explicit storytelling programs, but the lessons I've learned are now infused into everything I do; the importance of creating opportunities for storytelling, sharing, and deep listening, are showing up in every aspect of my work….And I’m helping other Extension agents with [it] a well! For example, with our Master Gardeners, the plan was that I was going to go to their first meeting…and do a quick story circle with them…But we had bad weather crop up, so I couldn't attend. But since I had proposed the idea to my Ag Agent, he still ended up incorporating a little bit of a storytelling component without me, letting people share some about their stories but in a less formal way. So even though I wasn't there, they got to share stories and engage with each other. It created space for people to share, which helps them bond and grow together. It's even better that it happened without me there!”
5. Collaborating Across Divides (systemic level). The SECoP supported new collaborations that bridged disciplinary, geographic, and identity divides as well as creating common ground between academic and practitioner roles. One respondent shared, “Participants involved with community development and food systems who may not have originally seen themselves as ‘health people’ began engaging in local public health assessment and improvement planning events in Lexington, Clark County, and Oldham County.”

The SECoP demonstrates the power of storytelling to inspire personal growth, foster authentic relationships, and spark collaboration across systems. By rooting professional practice in shared humanity, this initiative is helping transform how Extension and its partners approach community engagement statewide.