Frequently Asked Questions

What is the story project?

The story project is the From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign's process for collecting the stories of those that have or are experiencing poverty in Illinois.

Why create the story project?

One reason that both our leaders and the general public has often failed to make ending poverty a priority is that conversations about poverty are often divorced from real people.  Individuals rely on stereotypes and misconceptions to make decisions or push the issues to the back burner.  The story project is aimed at addressing this issue by giving those who are experiencing or have experienced poverty the chance to tell their story and make poverty about real people, not myths.

The other reason is that too often our conversations exclude those that are experiencing or have experienced poverty. They know what barriers they have faced in their lives. They know what they need in their lives to have real opportunity. They are the experts. Without their voice, their leadership at the table, we are not only missing critical insight into what needs to be done, but we are failing to honor human rights values themselves – respecting the capacity and contributions of any and all individuals.

How do you collect stories?

There are a couple ways stories can be collected: 

1. A person that is experiencing or has experienced poverty can contact a Campaign staff person to set up either a phone interview or a meeting at a convenient location for a video taped interview.
2. An organization or individual can interview people to collect their story by using the Campaign's interview format. Contact the Campaign to gather more information on how to perform these interviews. 
3. Organizations or individuals can identify people with good stories and refer Heartland staff to these individuals.  Either Heartland staff or volunteers can than conduct the interview.

What will you do with the stories?

Phone Interviews: A written description of the story will be developed from the interview.  This story may be used in part in future reports, passed to the Commission for the Elimination of Poverty, as well as in other materials we will hand out or put on our website.  We will only use an individual's first name, unless he or she gives us permission to use their full name.  We may also ask if those being interviewed if they are interested in talking with other agencies that are working on similar issues, such as access to health care. If they are, we will share their contact information with those agencies. If they are not, we will not.

Video Interviews: These interviews may be posted on the From Poverty to Opportunity Campaign website, used in presentations to legislators, community groups, Campaign constituents, or may be used in other awareness raising activities. The stories in these video interviews may be edited for content and time. As with the phone interviews, we will only an individual's first name when the interviews are distributed and the contact information of the person being interviewed will only be shared with the explicit consent of the interviewee.

The stories may be shared with the media, but the media will not get any information about how to contact the story teller, unless he or she would like to be available to the media.

We will ask all people that tell their story to sign a release form that gives Heartland Alliance the right to use their story. If the individual is not comfortable signing the form, we will not use their story.

I am interested in volunteering to do interviews.  What should I do?

Contact the campaign staff (use the form below or you can send an e-mail to frompovertytoopportunity@heartlandalliance.org) and let them know you are interested.  If you would like to be interviewed for The Story Project, please specify if you would prefer a phone interview or a video interview. As the opportunity to conduct an interview arises, you will be contacted by campaign staff.