From June – December 2024, KUNR partnered with StoryCorps on the One Small Step conversation program, connecting Northern Nevadans with different political and life values through dialogue.
Learn more below about program highlights and community events. Thank you to all the community members who signed up for the program and participated in community workshops! We reached almost 100 community members with in-depth workshops, events and conversations during our 2024 program.
Conversations
In 2024, almost 80 community members applied for KUNR’s One Small Step program. KUNR reporter Natalie Van Hoozer and program assistant Alysha Cancino facilitated 10 conversations, matching 20 community members with someone new to them for a 90-minute conversation at the KUNR studios. Conversations focused on topics such as immigration, religion, education, the environment and changing political party affiliations.
KUNR’s 2024 One Small Step initiative built on KUNR’s 2021 program, when KUNR was the first station nationwide to pilot the One Small Step program bilingually in both Spanish and English. KUNR co-led the 2021 program in partnership with Reynolds School of Journalism’s Noticiero Móvil bilingual, faculty-run, student newsroom at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Listen to excerpts of select KUNR One Small Step conversations from our 2024 and 2021 programs on the KUNR website.
Listening event
For the 2024 One Small Step program, KUNR furthered its previous One Small Step partnership with Nevada Humanities, an independent humanities council creating public programs and supporting public projects statewide.
In October, Nevada Humanities hosted KUNR for a One Small Step listening session at the 2024 Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl. KUNR One Small Step Program lead, Natalie Van Hoozer, played an audio segment produced from a One Small Step conversation with Northern Nevada residents Leslie Mix and Antonio Solorio. Directly following the audio piece, Natalie moderated an in-person discussion with Leslie and Antonio, where community members shared questions about the audio piece and Leslie and Antonio answered in real time.
Workshops
To reach as many community members as possible during the six-month 2024 One Small Step program, KUNR partnered with three different organizations to host community workshops:
In addition to the listening session KUNR offered at the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl, KUNR’s Natalie Van Hoozer led an interactive workshop about recording your own oral history. Participants wrote their own bios, then paired off with someone they didn’t know to discuss their formative life experiences and articulate their personal values.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists Nevada Chapter hosted KUNR’s Natalie Van Hoozer for a virtual webinar, open to the community. She trained journalists and community members in Nevada and beyond on the basics of facilitating conversations between community members, for both professional and personal purposes.
KUNR and its sister station KNCC Elko partnered with the Humanities Center at Great Basin College Elko to offer an in-person workshop for members of the Elko, Nevada, community. Students, professors, journalists, archivists, artists, and humanities professionals gathered to write down their key life events and values, as well as learn the basics of audio recording their own stories at home.
Outreach
To share KUNR’s 2024 One Small Step program and invite community members to sign up, KUNR connected with Northern Nevada residents at the station, as well as at community events:
One Small Step Program assistant Alysha Cancino presented a “behind the scenes” look at the One Small Step program as part of KUNR’s open house in July. She showed attendees the One Small Step recording space, answered questions, and invited them to sign up for the program.
KUNR staff and advisory board members also tabled at the Northern Nevada Pride Festival in September. They shared information about KUNR with community members unfamiliar with the station’s work. They also collected One Small Step program sign-ups and community questions related to the voting process.
Explore KUNR’s One Small Step content
Listen to excerpts of select KUNR One Small Step conversations from our 2021 and 2024 programs on our website.
Explore further details about the KUNR One Small Step program on the 2024 and 2021 program landing pages.
Additional resources
Read KUNR’s Natalie Van Hoozer’s Nevada Humanities Double Down Blog post with tips about talking through differences and sharing your story.
If you applied to be matched for a conversation and didn’t get a chance to participate during our KUNR 2024 program, you can explore free StoryCorps resources:
- The StoryCorps DIY Fundamentals course offers tools to help you create your own StoryCorps-style recording project.
- The StoryCorps mobile app allows you to record and archive your own stories directly from your phone.
- The StoryCorps One Small Step website provides additional information about the national-level One Small Step program, as well as a sign-up to join an email list to get the latest updates about the national program.
- You can listen to full One Small Step conversations on the StoryCorps Archive website. Under “initiatives” search for “One Small Step” to view all 50-minute conversations released to the public.
StoryCorps’ One Small Step and the Radio Station Hubs are made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
