Nest Nationwide Programming

As we enter the fall, Nest is seeing an idea we began developing earlier this year take shape in communities across the country: creating more opportunities for young people to connect with people whose lives and experiences may be very different from their own.

This summer, 17-year-old Dallas students Eres Stone and Helen Flanagan became the first youth apprentices for Our Human Voices, Nest’s new youth-led storytelling initiative. After training in active listening, ethical interviewing, and documentary storytelling, Eres and Helen spent the summer interviewing more than a dozen people across Dallas whose backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences differed from their own.

On October 7, their work will come together at the Angelika Film Center for the first Our Human Voices community screening. The evening will bring youth, educators, community leaders, interview participants, and members of the public together to watch their film and continue the conversations it began.

The Dallas project has also given us an opportunity to learn what happens when young people are asked not to debate or persuade, but simply to get curious. Throughout the process, Eres and Helen practiced approaching people they did not know, asking thoughtful questions, listening without judgment, questioning their own assumptions, and finding points of connection where they might not have expected them.

That work is now beginning to expand beyond Dallas.

In Oregon, Nest is partnering with Caldera Arts on the next Our Human Voices youth apprenticeship, bringing together a cohort of young people for training, interviews, storytelling, and filmmaking during the 2026–2027 school year. At the same time, we have begun conversations with city leaders, youth commissions, schools, and community organizations across the country about bringing Our Human Voices to their own communities.

Alongside this new work, Nest continues our longstanding commitment to violence and abuse prevention and mental wellness education. Through You Belong Here, young people develop practical skills for navigating relationships, recognizing unhealthy behaviors, setting and respecting boundaries, managing emotions, supporting peers, seeking help, and contributing to safer and more connected school communities.

Although these programs take different forms, the foundation beneath them is the same. Prevention is not only about responding to harm. It is about giving young people the skills to understand themselves and one another, communicate across differences, challenge assumptions, build healthy relationships, and feel that they belong.

Our first Our Human Voices apprentices began with a simple assignment: talk to someone you might not otherwise talk to, ask questions, and listen.

As that idea travels from Dallas to Oregon and, we hope, to communities across the country, we are reminded that connection does not have to begin with agreement. Sometimes, it simply begins with curiosity.

Thank you for helping us create more opportunities for young people to feel seen, heard, connected, and equipped to build healthier communities.