Miami Herald - August 21, 2008
Laura Morales, llmorales@MiamiHerald.com

Her husband, Thomas Cross, died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 2004.

With no health insurance, Angelia Calhoun had to lug around eight bags of documents and spend countless hours applying for aid and sitting in waiting rooms with her five children.

In an economic bind, she joined the Human Services Coalition's Parent Leadership Training Institute and shares her experience with parents in similar situations.

Personal stories like Calhoun's have the power to inspire, the coalition states. That's why now it's part of the organization's Story Bank, an archive that chronicles how social problems affect human lives -- and how some manage to overcome those problems.

And they're always looking for more anecdotes.

"Some of the stories are written, some are on audio, some on video," said Gretchen Beesing, community engagement director for the Edgewater-based coalition. "They can be used to show legislators the effects of policies."

Through her association with the coalition, Calhoun, an administrative assistant at Gulf Coast Community Care and an Army veteran, traveled to Tallahassee in late March and told her story of healthcare access nightmares to Miami-Dade lawmakers.

"Meeting with them made the issue more intense, more real," Calhoun said recently. "You don't think you can make a difference, but you find out you can."

And making a difference through stories is what the 1,000 Voices Archive, where some of the Story Bank anecdotes are posted, is all about. The online project, which aims to publish the stories of 1,000 people from every state, is presented by Creative Counsel, a Manhattan-based group of artists who support social justice causes.

"Gretchen contacted us about a collaboration and we found the coalition to be one of our finest advocacy partners," said Creative Counsel director Phoebe Eng. "Our stories are told by Americans impacted by economic, immigration and healthcare policies."

Eng also said her group hopes to spark dialogue and encourage positive policy changes. It also wants to give people hope with stories of success against the odds.

The stories of six people from South Florida are already posted on the site's interactive map of the country.

Horror tales of foster children abused in the system often grab the headlines. Rachel Johnson inspires through the positive outcome of her story so far. Johnson entered the foster care system at age 5; now 23, she currently lives in Casa Valentina, a home for girls who have aged out of foster care.

"I've lived in 23 different homes," she said. "They help us stay off the street and teach us life skills, like money management," said Johnson, whose story will soon be posted on the Voices site. She recently earned an associate of arts degree from Miami Dade College and will enter Florida International University in the fall.

"I'm going to study criminal justice," she said.

While she didn't want to get into details of her different homes, Johnson said she always will be grateful to the women, like Cutler Ridge Elementary teacher May Taylor and Judge Jeri Beth Cohen, who have served as positive role models.

"Hopefully, my story will help someone else," she said.

Beesing said the 1,000 Voices representatives will return to Miami in late August to film nine more stories for the online archive. The crew already has three people lined up, but is looking for six other folks willing to share their experiences.

"These stories will focus on people living with HIV and AIDS in South Florida," she said. "But if someone feels they have a good story, we'll take it, even if it's about something different."

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