Share Your Story, Shape Minnesota’s Future
Engage Winona is excited to partner with the State of Minnesota on an innovative new project: MN StoryCollective. At its heart, the project is simple but powerful. People across Minnesota are invited to share short, anonymous stories from their own lives. These stories then form a collective resource that helps shape how the state invests in communities through future funding, programs, and policies.
Every Minnesotan has experiences worth sharing. Whether it’s about school, child or elder care, healthcare, or other services that shape daily life, your perspective helps leaders understand what’s working and what needs to change. By sharing a story, you help build a pool of community voices and narratives, strengthen programs and services that support families and neighbors, and make policies more responsive and representative for all.
Participation is easy, free, and open to all. Every story is completely anonymous, and you can share online or attend an in-person session where a facilitator can help transcribe your story. Engage Winona will be gathering stories in the Winona area from September through December 2025. At the end of this period, we’ll host two community “sense-making” sessions in December, where neighbors will come together to reflect on themes that emerge.
The stories don’t just sit on a shelf. They’re shared with state staff, community partners, and the public in events that highlight patterns and themes. Together, we explore how to take action to better support Minnesotans. MN StoryCollective also makes stories available publicly — not with names or identifying details, but as a way for others to understand what people are experiencing across the state. State and local leaders are committed to improving services for children, families, and communities, and the best way to do that is to start with real lived experiences.
You can share your story today at ourtomorro.ws/engagewinona. This partnership builds on Engage Winona’s ongoing work of valuing lived experiences, creating connections, and centering community voices in shaping our shared future.