Story-Telling: The NTOTAP Community Health Advocate Project Showcase

Posted by nnlmneo on April 3rd, 2015 Posted in: Blog

---

Want to see how stories can raise the visibility of successful programs? Check out the project showcase of Community Health Advocate programs, created under the direction of the Native Telehealth Outreach and Technical Assistance Program (NTOTAP). NTOTAP, a program of the Centers for American Indian & Alaska Native Health, provides training on website design and social media marketing to Native health programs. The short videos, which are project slides with narrative by the community health advocates themselves, provide digital vignettes of community health advocacy activities and accomplishments.

I heard about the NTOTAP showcase from Spero Manson, PhD, Director of the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. Dr. Manson was a keynote speaker at the Quint*Essential Conference in Denver last October. He incorporated one of the videos into his presentation. (See the video of Russell George under “Walleen Whitson.”) Dr. Manson’s use of one of the stories proves the versatility of digital story-telling. The audience heard, in a participant’s own words, how a community health program made a difference in his life.

In the field of evaluation, which emphasizes evaluation use, story methods are emerging as an important trend. Project stories seem to have greater reach to program stakeholders than traditional reporting formats. The NTOTAP showcase is a great example of digital project story-telling in action.