Nothing feels better than having your voice heard.

Co-founder of Green Card Voices (GCV) and immigrant Tea Rozman-Clark has no problem sharing her voice when it comes to talking about Minnesota’s immigrant population. With her organization’s book series of the same name, Tea is giving immigrants a platform to share stories that are often overlooked or mistold in mainstream media.

“Unfortunately a lot of the media articles don't focus on the individual stories,” said Tea. “Often there’s some larger event happening like a special executive order, and so the story of the individual becomes secondary or is molded to fit the primary context.”

Part of Tea’s mission is to change this narrative. At GCV, the storyteller is the focus.

“We just really wanted to share the breadth and diversity within the immigrant population and the various contributions that we're making on many different levels in the state, and with our stories we want to connect to our new neighbors,” Tea said.

"With our stories we want to connect to our new neighbors."

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation has supported GCV since 2017. After publishing “Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a St. Paul High School,” GCV received funding from the Foundation to create an exhibit based on the book that traveled throughout Minnesota last year. This book is just one of five GCV created for its youth series. Other books featured in the series include the cities of Minneapolis, Fargo, Atlanta and Madison/Milwaukee.

Using only six open-ended questions (sent to storytellers well in advance), this organization has had the ability to help 420 people coming from more than 120 countries tell their own stories. By allowing individuals to be “in control of their narrative,” GCV has been able to share stories on topics from youth to entrepreneurship to STEM.