Our mission is to chronicle history
through the lens of home

What

Why

How

Values

We are a team of new generation storytellers partnering with scientists, academics, issue experts, and community leaders to create experimental research and visual projects that explore the concept of home and how it will define the future.

Using film, photography, research, science, and data visualization, we are creating a new model for collaborative reporting that challenges traditional industry power dynamics and uses long-form, multimedia projects to immerse audiences in news that feels like an experience.

Founded during the pandemic in April 2020, The Home Collective was created as a decade-long experiment to create a global record of the human experience with home through slow journalism and multidisciplinary collaboration. We fundamentally believe in the power of intersectional storytelling to transform perspectives and impact policymaking.

We operate as both a global collective and an independent publishing platform to pioneer long-term documentary projects around some of the most defining issues of our time including the climate crisis, displacement crisis, nationalism, Indigenous land rights, the housing crisis and more.

The Home Collective is supported with grants from the National Geographic Society, Getty Images, IWMF, Adobe, and the Solutions Journalism Network, to name a few. Our work has been published in the Washington Post, CNN, Buzzfeed News, BBC, NPR, PBS Newshour, Huffington Post and more.

The concept of “home” will define our generation’s future. We want to document it.

 

We believe the future will increasingly be defined by the concept of home -- whether due to climate change, housing shortages, the displacement crisis, or indigenous land rights. Our big idea is that the commonality of our collective relationship with home can powerfully bridge some of the most difficult and divisive issues facing our generation.

By using “home” as an access point to these stories, our goal is to equip diverse audiences to engage in issues like displacement, migration, homelessness, or culture loss through a shared lens that feels tangible and familiar.

Building this understanding and empathy will only become more critical over the next decade as these crises intensify and our generation is faced with solving them.

 

We believe the future of storytelling lies in collaboration, where the people who share their stories have real ownership in shaping the narrative.

 

Our vision is to continue imagining more creative ways to conduct collaborative reporting and research through multimedia news, research, and documentary experiences. We are committed to increasing connection, collaboration, and community through the stories and spaces we create

Too often, those who are on the frontlines of being impacted by climate, displacement, and housing policies are also those who are the most marginalized from the conversations and decision-making tables. We are committed to amplifying underrepresented voices in communities around the world as well as elevating local leaders, change-makers, researchers, and storytellers in the process.

As we do this, we also practice radical transparency about our processes and so that we can serve as a resource for other new generation storytellers to look to when learning how to craft culturally collaborative projects.

 

Collaboration:

We believe the future of storytelling lies in collaborative reporting and research that elevates the lived-experience of those most impacted by the climate, displacement, and housing crises.

 

Local Partnerships:

Local-led solutions are what will power the future. We operate in close partnership with local organizations, community leaders, and experts in order to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of our reporting.

 

Radical Transparency:

How a story is made is just as important as the story itself. Our goal is to provide access into our process to allow for accountability and shared growth.

 

Slow Journalism:

We practice a slow, intentional approach to journalism that is centered on unhurried relationship-building, genuine learning, and allowing stories to unfold at their own pace.

 

Solutions-focused:

We are committed to rigorous reporting that examines locally-led solutions and not just the problems.

 

Trauma-informed:

We recognize the historic failures of an approach to journalism and academic research that has exploited and retraumatized those who it covers. We practice trauma-informed reporting that seeks to uphold the agency, dignity, and boundaries of those sharing their stories.

founders

founders

Darian Woehr, Filmmaker

Darian is a National Geographic Explorer and award-winning documentary filmmaker who is traveling through Latin America to explore stories at the nexus of memory, environments, and defining home that occur at pivotal moments in history but are often missing from the headlines. She has spent the past few years studying Indigenous land rights and social issues in both Brazil and Argentina.

Hailey Sadler, Photographer & Researcher

Hailey is a National Geographic Explorer, Research Fellow, and documentary photojournalist who is drawn to narratives around intergenerational trauma, historical memory, and defining home, particularly in the aftermath of conflict and forced displacement. She has spent her early career documenting the refugee crisis and post-conflict stabilization in the Middle East and holds a masters degree in international conflict at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.

work with us

collaborators

collaborators

Bruna Kadletz
Refugee Rights Advocate

Bruna is an activist, public speaker and writer from Brazil who focuses on forced displacement and climate change. Bruna designed and co-founded Circles of Hospitality, an organization that develops social, cultural and educational initiatives for refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable immigrants in Florianópolis, Brazil.

Bruna is an activist, public speaker and writer from Brazil who focuses on forced displacement and climate change. Bruna designed and co-founded Circles of Hospitality, an organization that develops social, cultural and educational initiatives for refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable immigrants in Florianópolis, Brazil.

José Albarrán López
Intercultural Mediator

José Albarrán is a Venezuelan human rights activist based in Brazil. He works on the front lines of care for immigrants and refugees by offering humanitarian interpretation and intercultural mediation with Venezuelan Indigenous people of the Warao ethnic group.

José Albarrán is a Venezuelan human rights activist based in Brazil. He works on the front lines of care for immigrants and refugees by offering humanitarian interpretation and intercultural mediation with Venezuelan Indigenous people of the Warao ethnic group.

Allie Young
Diné Activist

Allie Young is a powerful activist and filmmaker focusing on Diné cultural preservation, political representation, and voting rights. She is the founder of Protect the Sacred and is a Program Officer at Harness, which is focused on mobilizing Diné youth to advocate for indigenous-led solutions.

Allie Young is a powerful activist and filmmaker focusing on Diné cultural preservation, political representation, and voting rights. She is the founder of Protect the Sacred and is a Program Officer at Harness, which is focused on mobilizing Diné youth to advocate for indigenous-led solutions.

Leo Zsembik
Neuroscience Consultant

Leo is an award winning neuroscientist and scientific communicator from The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), previously at the National Institutes of Health whose research focuses on how memories are created, stored, expressed, and manipulated in the brain.

Leo is an award winning neuroscientist and scientific communicator from The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), previously at the National Institutes of Health whose research focuses on how memories are created, stored, expressed, and manipulated in the brain.