Candid Conversations with Urban Consulate

If you work in community, you know the hard question on funding applications and grant reports: ‘What is your impact?’ On 6/12/2019, Orlando Bailey asked three Detroit-based communicators, ‘How do you define impact?’ EarlyWorks founder, Nicole de Beaufort appeared on an all-star panel of local women storytellers alongside Nicole Lindsey of Detroit Hives and Cindy Eggleton of Brilliant Detroit. Panelists shared fresh ideas for telling the story of community work.

“People are primed to have a very miserly cognitive storyline about blight and poverty. They have been trained by popular media and culture. So when you submit an asset-based approach, you’re challenging people to think differently and be better people.” - Nicole de Beaufort

“We all have a platform to tell our stories, no matter what we look like or where we’re from. We’ve seen this transition in Detroit and wanted to take part in that. We see Detroit as a positive. We want to show the great and the citizens making that happen.” - Nicole Lindsey

“It's important that you correct deficit-based stories. Don't get frustrated—you're helping others see things they just don't yet see. But then sometimes they say, 'You know what, I never saw it that way.' It's important to hold up the community you see." - Cindy Eggleton