One Small Step by StoryCorps
Take one small step, Dartmouth.
As part of the Dialogue Project’s mission to help you build your collaborative dialogue skills, we are partnering with the national nonprofit StoryCorps to bring their One Small Step initiative to campus. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree.
One Small Step brings two people with different political beliefs together for a conversation: not to debate politics, but simply to interview each other and get to know one another as people.
One Small Step is based on contact theory, which states that a meaningful interaction between people with opposing views can help turn “thems” into “us-es.” Its scientific and systematic approach is supported by a group of advisors that include scientists, researchers, and psychologists. To date, more than 4,800 people across 40 states have recorded One Small Step interviews.
Together, let’s show the rest of the country what it means to have the courage to listen.
Forging Shared Connections
Dartmouth students Adithi Jayaraman ’24 and Jhozef Sheldia ’24 take part in a One Small Step conversation.
Why Participate?
One Small Step is an opportunity:
- To sharpen your ability to engage with and across difference — a skill that’s critical to effective and sustained leadership in the classroom, in workplaces and in civic life.
- To co-create a campus culture that is built on respect, that makes space for complex truths, and that utilizes that space to empower all community members to more openly exchange ideas, learn from and grow with one another.
- To make Dartmouth a leading, national model for campus wide skill-building in the essential skills of collaborative dialogue.
- To create a community that you feel more connected to and understood by.
Apply to be Matched
The next One Small Step recording sessions will take place Nov. 13, 14, and 15. Sign up by Oct. 13.
StoryCorps’ One Small Step Partnership Kicks Off
Watch our April 3 launch event, where StoryCorps President Dave Isay, Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock, and students who have taken part in One Small Step conversations shared their insights.