From The
Narrative Leadership Institute
Learning · Practice · Public Programming
A Narrative Leadership exchange
Where Possibility Lives
Baltimore ↔ Harlem · Founding Exchange
Possibility can live in any neighborhood when young people can locate themselves in history, make meaning of the lives and places that formed them, discover the story they are carrying, and learn to steward the stories of others with care.
The first two coordinates
Two cities. One reciprocal exchange. A wider possibility.
In development · Proposed Summer 2027
Participant applications are not yet open. Timing and travel remain subject to underwriting, host partners and final operating plans.
Baltimore ↔ Harlem
History lives in place. Possibility moves through exchange.
Sources: Library of Congress; AndrewHorne/Wikimedia Commons; Matt Herzog, Domino Sugars (CC BY 2.0).
The first two coordinates
Two cities. One reciprocal exchange. A wider possibility.
Baltimore and Harlem are the founding coordinates of Where Possibility Lives—not the limit of the idea. Twelve emerging storytellers will explore how history, place, migration and memory shape identity; host one another in their cities; and create responsible records of what they learn to see.
Locate yourself
Understand the stories, places and inheritances shaping what you notice.
Encounter another city
Enter as a learner, guided by people who know the place from within.
Steward the record
Decide what should become public—and make it without extracting from yourself or anyone else.
Founding cohort
Something to notice—not something to prove.
The founding exchange is being developed for Black and Brown young adults, ages 18–24, rooted in Baltimore and Harlem or greater New York and curious about identity, place, culture, memory, media, art, archives or public life.
Six rooted in Baltimore. Six rooted in Harlem or greater New York.
No journalism major · No professional equipment · No existing portfolio · No institutional affiliation required
College students may participate, but college enrollment is not the definition of readiness. Curiosity, care and a willingness to examine the story you are carrying matter more.
The exchange model
One shared room. Two local studios. A reciprocal crossing.
The common curriculum can live online. Local mentors, cultural institutions and field experiences help each city remain specific. Reciprocal immersions allow participants to encounter another place without arriving as instant authorities.
01
Shared learning room
Guided Narrative Leadership sessions connect both cities through one common method.
02
Local city studios
Participants investigate place, archives, ethical listening and story-making with local guidance.
03
Reciprocal immersions
Each city has the opportunity to host and teach the other, subject to funding and final planning.
04
Public record
Participants shape what they learned into a portfolio and, with consent, a curated presentation.
Memory → Meaning → Voice → Making
Production comes after understanding.
Where Possibility Lives is meaning-making first, stewardship second and production in service of both.
Memory locates what you inherited.
Meaning names what place and history taught you to notice.
Voice clarifies the question you can carry with care.
Making creates a record that is accurate, useful and responsibly shared.
The participant portfolio
A body of work rooted in place, reflection and responsibility.
- Where I Stand — a self-portrait rooted in family, history and the home city.
- How to Enter Our City — a locally authored guide to entering a place responsibly.
- What the Other City Taught Me to See — a visitor reflection, not instant outside authority.
- A City-to-City Correspondence — a paired written, audio or visual dialogue.
- One final public artifact — developed with editorial support and shared only through an approved consent process.
Every participant should finish with portfolio-ready work. Public publication remains a separate editorial and consent decision.
Participant rights
Your story remains yours.
Participants retain copyright in their original work. A clearly disclosed, nonexclusive program-use agreement will allow approved work to support the exchange, its archive, public programming, recruitment and impact record without claiming ownership of anyone’s story.
Program safeguards
- No required personal disclosure.
- No unsafe solo, confrontation or breaking-news assignments.
- No raw participant material used to train AI.
- No synthetic voice, likeness or identity recreation.
- No unrelated sale, sponsor advertising, merchandising or substantial adaptation without a separate written agreement and compensation terms.
- Factual, safety, privacy and sensitive-detail review before first publication.
- A corrections process and legitimate safety or privacy removal path.
The final participant, media and likeness agreements will receive appropriate legal review before enrollment opens.
Partnership + underwriting
Help the founding exchange operate with care in both cities.
The Institute is seeking institutional partners, cultural organizations, underwriters, hosts, venues and production collaborators who can help make the shared curriculum, paid local guidance, participant access, reciprocal city immersions, responsible publication and a separately produced Narrative Showcase possible.
Where Possibility Lives is a program in development from The Narrative Leadership Institute™, the learning, practice and public-programming division of The Narrative Company™.
