TandemEd helps communities tell their stories and shape what comes next.
Own Your Story
Own Your Story is a community-led process that brings people together to decide how they want to tell their story—and what they want to do next.
Young people help lead this work by gathering stories, interviewing elders, and shaping messages about what matters most to their community. Families, elders, and local leaders help guide the work and turn shared priorities into action. TandemEd supports this work through hands-on storytelling, organizing, and media projects.
Newark, NJ
Pittsburgh, PA
Jackson, MS
Detroit, MI
New Orleans, LA
Turning Community Ideas Into Action
Strong ideas need support to grow.
TandemEd helps communities—especially young people and their families—find the people, funding, and support needed to move their ideas forward. We work to secure both local and external support while ensuring communities maintain ownership of their work and direction.
Our funding and resource partners have included:
What Communities Have Built
Explore reports from Own Your Story initiatives to see how communities brought their ideas to life.
These reports highlight projects led by young people, families, and local organizations that received mini-grants through TandemEd to launch or sustain work based on what their community said mattered most.
The TandemEd Story
This short documentary shares the story of TandemEd and the communities we work with—told in their own voices.
Our Co-Founders and Senior Partners
Dr. Brian C.B. Barnes
Co-Founder & Senior Partner
Dr. Dorian O. Burton
Co-founder & Senior Partner
Toks Adeshiyan, MBA
Co-founder & Senior Partner
Jason Rivers
Senior Partner