These Digital Storytelling Projects were created through the Women's program at Central Neighbourhood House (CNH), a social agency located in downtown east Toronto. The projets are facilitated by Artist-in-Residence, Camille Turner and Manager of the Womens' Program, Jennifer LaFontaine, with leadership from participants of the Peer Facilitators Program.

This work has been funded through Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, St. Andrew's Church

The curriculum was adapted from The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), an organization based in California that developed a process of enabling anyone with little or no computer experience to use digital media to create their own 3-5 minute videos. Participants use personal photographs, artwork, mementos, text, sound and their own voice to tell their stories. We have mainly worked with immigrant and refugee women from a variety of cultures. More recently, we started programs for Deaf women and girls.

Our work involves creating a supportive environment to allow participants to feel safe enough to share their stories. We have witnessed Story Circles in which stories urgently bubble up from grief, sorrow, pain, and joy demanding to be told. Some stories have never been told before. Some have finally found a place where they are acknowledged and valued for the first time.

Over the years we have worked steadily to achieve our dream of creating a community media lab at CNH. Because of the diversity of languages and cultures in the communities we work in, we've created a peer-facilitator program in which we train women from our programs to become part of our teaching team. This enables us to deliver Digital Storytelling programs to a variety of communities in various languages.