In brief
The Door’s culinary workforce program participants sought to develop soft storytelling skills, including interviewing and self-expression. Gate One partnered with The Door to create an engaging, innovative Storytelling Workshop. This immersive session helped young people confidently integrate their lived experiences into various storytelling opportunities, leading to full participant engagement and requests for future collaborations.
The Door’s challenge
For more than 50 years, The Door has been a trusted place for young people between 12 and 24. All are welcomed as they are, to be themselves, address challenges, and access services when and how they need them. With roots in the heart of New York City and a presence across the boroughs, The Door offers comprehensive programs and services including mental health counseling, health and nutrition assistance, legal services, housing support, arts, education, and career guidance. In 2025, The Door provided services to more than 8,000 young people across its four locations.
External organizations and partners support The Door through monetary donations, in-kind donations of items and supplies for young people, and by providing learning opportunities for beneficiaries in their many programs. In this experience with Gate One, participants in The Door’s culinary workforce program saw an opportunity to go beyond the kitchen to gain soft social skills in different areas of storytelling, such as interviewing, self-expression, and confident communication. This led to Gate One and The Door partnering to create a Storytelling Workshop – a fun and engaging afternoon for young people to explore storytelling in different facets of their life.
Our approach:
A volunteer team from Gate One assessed the different needs and asks of The Door team, being flexible to provide and teach storytelling devices and techniques to support various scenarios. This ranged from building personal confidence in storytelling, to interview preparation or media interviews (where young people are asked about their experiences with The Door).
We took a deliberate approach to depart from the standard corporate offerings that are usually brought to The Door and were given the latitude to create something completely new and fresh for the participants. Rather than a presentation-heavy session to teach the workshop participants about how to tell a story, we leveraged our time to connect with the students and gave them space to share their stories with us in open forums. We could then provide them with guidance, ask them questions and help them improve their skillsets.
Being conscious of the individual needs of all participants, we created a dynamic upfront presentation, making concepts of storytelling accessible by using examples the audience could relate to. We then hosted focused sessions where participants were able to practice storytelling in a variety of formats (interviewing, personal storytelling, public speaking and media training) and equipped each participant with hands-on worksheets and a personalized take-home reference guide. With the support of The Door’s sponsorship team, we could innovate and take risks with a new kind of workshop.
”It was truly special to see the engagement between your team and our young people. The structure of the session - across personal storytelling, career, and media - created a great opportunity for young people to think about how to integrate their lived experiences into their everyday lives and future paths. It was also incredibly meaningful to see them feel comfortable enough to open up and share parts of their personal journeys.
Stephanie CrumptonDirector of Events & Partnerships Manager, The Door
Key results
Gate One delivered an engaging and fun session for the participants, challenging them to think about integrating their lived experiences into everyday opportunities for storytelling.
For a half-day workshop, several standout moments showed the overall impact of the day:
- Fully engaged participants staying for the entirety of the session and participating in all exercises.
- Follow-up requests for a return session and additional partnerships in the future.
- A two-way learning process where Gate One colleagues gained insight from the attendees about literature and general knowledge.
”By the end of the session, several of our interns were already asking when you'd return and whether there would be a Part Two. That kind of response from young people is meaningful, and it reflects the genuine connection you created in that the room. Thank you for your time, your thoughtfulness, and for the care you brought to this experience. Our CUT interns left that session with something they'll carry with them, and that matters deeply to us.
Patricia RodriguezEvents & Partnerships Manager, The Door
