Unlikely Collaborators Awards Grant to The Michael’s Daughter Foundation to Empower Youth Through “Our Stories: Break the Cycle”

LOS ANGELES, March 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unlikely Collaborators has awarded a grant to The Michael’s Daughter Foundation to support their transformative program, Our Stories: Break the Cycle. This innovative in-house filmmaking workshop provides a platform for youth impacted by parental incarceration and the justice system to explore, articulate, and reshape their personal narratives, fostering resilience, empowerment, and community connection.

Our Stories: Break the Cycle equips participants with the tools to uncover and express their unique voices through live-action and animated storytelling. Led by a team of professional teaching artists, the program guides youth in crafting narrative pieces that are transformed into films, with participants retaining full creative control. This empowering process enables them to reflect on their circumstances, challenge limiting beliefs, and discover their potential to reshape their futures.

“For youth affected by the justice system, storytelling becomes a lifeline, offering validation, self-expression, and hope,” said Ciera Payton, Actress (Tyler Perry’s The Oval and Wendy Williams:The Movie), Founder and Executive Director of The Michael’s Daughter Foundation. “Having the opportunity to receive funding from Unlikely Collaborators allows us to expand this vital work, providing a safe space where participants can redefine their stories and break harmful generational cycles. Together, we’re empowering them to envision all that they can be and create positive pathways by having them experience accomplishment and resilience through the process of storytelling and film production. To me, this is a radical shift towards building thriving communities and humanity.”

Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit organization, founded and chaired by Elizabeth R. Koch, dedicated to fostering transformative storytelling, developing human connection, and resolving internal conflict. UC’s perspective is that external conflict is the direct result of unconscious, unresolved internal conflict inside each and every one of us. Founded on the belief that the way we perceive the world is highly subjective, Unlikely Collaborators supports projects that challenge assumptions, spark meaningful dialogue, and invite people into deeper self-awareness.

Central to this mission is the Perception Box^TM, a groundbreaking concept developed by Koch. More than just a metaphor, the Perception Box represents the often unseen framework of biases, beliefs, and narratives that influence how we interpret reality. Rooted in cognitive science and psychological research, this framework illustrates how each person’s unique mental model shapes their understanding of the world—often limiting their ability to connect with new perspectives and ideas. By investigating and expanding our personal Perception Box, individuals and communities can unlock compassion, creativity, and new ways of thinking.

“By providing a safe space for youth to share their stories, Our Stories: Break the Cycle fosters healing, empowerment, and lasting change,” said Koch. “We are honored to support their mission to break cycles of incarceration and create a ripple effect of hope.”

For more information about The Michael’s Daughter Foundation, visit www.michaelsdaughter.org. To learn more about Unlikely Collaborators, visit www.unlikelycollaborators.com.

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SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators