Your Welcoming Photos, Your Welcoming Story
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Your Welcoming Photos, Your Welcoming Story
Who made you feel like you belonged this week?
Maybe someone saved you a seat, or held a door, or learned to say your name right. Belonging rarely announces itself. It shows up in small moments that are easy to walk past and hard to photograph, which is exactly why we are asking you to try.
Creative Changemakers, powered by Creative Visions, equips young people to use creativity to make positive changes in their communities. We have teamed up with Welcoming America, which helps communities across the country become places where everyone belongs. Every September, they lead Welcoming Week, a worldwide celebration where neighbors gather to meet and share their stories. This year, it runs from September 10 to 19, and the theme is Stories We Share: The Courage to Connect.
So we are asking a question only you can answer: what does welcoming look like where you live? Not in a stock photo. On your block, at your lunch table, in your family’s kitchen. Pick up the phone in your pocket and show us. Your photos could be featured in a gallery during Welcoming Week.
To learn more about Welcoming Week, click here.
Free. Open to youth ages 13 to 18. No prior photography experience needed.
Step 1: Get the toolkit
Download the free PhotoVoice Toolkit and discover how to tell powerful stories through photography. Learn simple techniques, reflect on your images, and create with confidence—using just your phone.
Step 2: Look around
Before you start photographing, take a few days to notice your surroundings. Who makes your community feel welcoming? Where do you feel most like yourself? Who quietly helps others feel included? And who is still waiting to be welcomed?
Step 3: Capture
Now take your photos. Focus on specific moments rather than broad scenes, and capture more images than you think you’ll need. Always ask permission before photographing someone, and respect their answer. Consent is part of good storytelling.
Step 4: Reflect
Choose your strongest images and write a short reflection. Explain what we’re seeing, why it matters, and what the photo reveals. The image captures attention; your words give it meaning.
Step 5: Submit your work
Share your photos and reflections below. Selected work will be featured in the gallery on this page, and we are working with Welcoming America to showcase submissions during Welcoming Week, September 10 to 19.
Gallery
Get inspired! Check out these submissions from real youth who documented what welcoming means to them.
Full of life
Visual Arts
Full of life
Artist
Tiffany T.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Full of life is something you experience not just by money or characteristics, it is family, friends and a comfort that you only experience by love and living life to the fullest. Wondering what is out there and never stoping until you reach that goal, yes it is scary, yes u don’t know what it going to happened, But never stop moving because it only ends until you give up, so be like the ocean move until; you can’t and make mistakes, erase them and keep on riding. People always tell me that you need people in your life that will bring you up, will never stop loving you and cheers you on when you makes mistakes. Some people don’t have any, they focus on popularity until of making real friends so be that person that people look up to and be someone who will be proud to know YOU. So l am not saying that it is easy but remember who you are, not someone you will regret knowing. Blanket, hot chocolate and sitting by a fire is comfort, living life is not a post be thinking what college you are getting it into or worrying about the future general, it is laughing until your stomach hurts, playing games with your family and enjoying your life until you can’t. Think about what makes you have comfort it is different for every one it can be eating or doing your job what ever it is make sure you find comfort in it and that you wake up and live your life to the fullest. So l hoped you enjoyed Full Of Life because to me it is not just an essay it is that someone related to what l wrote and enjoying your life, remembering your youth or just remembering that you have a life to live not just to live behind a job, it is to laugh and make memories you will remember.
Young life and creativity in Kenya
Visual Arts
Young life and creativity in Kenya
Artist
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Photos of activities and creativity of children and youth from ghettos
Proud Vice President
Visual ArtsProud Vice President
Artist
Isabella C.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Here is a photo of me on the day I was voted in as Vice President at my middle school. I feel like I belong here because I am now part of ASB. I feel the most proud to help represent my school as the Vice President for the school year.
Plum Blossom
Visual ArtsPlum Blossom
Artist
Mateo F.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
I feel welcomed outdoors.
ASB room
Visual ArtsASB room
Artist
S N.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
The ASB room where I have creative freedom
Library = Community
Visual ArtsLibrary = Community
Artist
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Mabelle A.
A Public Library shows community. The library is a place where many people feel safe. The library brings people together in all kinds of ways it is an environment in which you can connect with people from all over Brentwood.Warning, contents may cause happiness
Visual ArtsWarning, contents may cause happiness
Artist
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Mirabelle A. Seeing the truck made me remember that not every second needs to be serious. Small things like this remind me to be happy and smile because reading that made me smile and I laughed with my family in the car and that made me feel connected and not alone.
Soccer is
Visual ArtsSoccer is
Artist
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Mauricio G. This image shows a ball and its meaning is that I like sports a lot and is connected to me because I have played the sport since I was 5 and have fun playing it with my friends and I never get bored of it and this image was taken in the day. This assignment reminded me to capture something that makes me feel like I belong and that makes me happy.
Through my Eyes
Visual ArtsThrough my Eyes
Artist
Bedin C.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
I chose this picture because I love being around nature and having moments where I can just be alone and enjoy peace. I really like being near the water, feeling the breeze, and not having to worry about everything going around me. This picture also remembers me of when I was 6 on Honduras in my old village, where I used to live and we use to have a river near us that we I use to swim on with my older brothers.
Hand Star
Visual ArtsHand Star
Artist
Danielle G.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Hand star: This picture is a memory of one out of many times that my friends and I got together. I feel safe around them and like I can be my true self! They are truly amazing and I am so grateful for them. I like to think that the space between our fingers means that we are not perfect friends, but we do our best to figure things out together through mistakes as all people do. We had a lot of fun taking this picture and I love my friend group.
My happy place
Visual ArtsMy happy place
Artist
Alex Y.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
This is one of my favorite parks that I’ve been visiting with family since I was 5 years old. I chose this park because to me, I’ve always seen it as a community gathering spot, bringing in new people and giving them lasting memories to remind them of the community that surrounds them, even if they don’t notice it. Though this park is not as filled as usual, seeing it this way reminds me of the people who fill the void and make it feel special.
Friendship Time
Visual Arts
Friendship Time
Artist
Camila A.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Three best friends laughing, playing, and having fun!
Hut
Visual ArtsHut
Artist
Joseph C.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Joseph, Memorial Park, 9/21/26
I really like the atmosphere and the area (Such as the hut in this picture, the playground, and trees) this park has. It’s the place I sometimes go to whenever I have extra time and have nothing to worry about, especially at night.
Friday Nights
Visual ArtsFriday Nights
Artist
Timmy Y.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
September 18, 2026 – Me and my church friends after Friday Service singing along with each other. I felt welcome because my friends embraced me for who I am.
Cross Country
Visual ArtsCross Country
Artist
Sacha T.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
This first photo was taken at a Cross Country race where the La Canada Tent is, and the people are my Cross Country teamates. This picture makes me feel welcomed as it reminds me of the team and how they make me feeled welcome whenever I am around them.
mom holding baby garter snake
Visual Artsmom holding baby garter snake
Artist
Miles M.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
Picture I took of my mom holding a non venomous baby garter snake. Taken at the stream of the Arroyo Seco near the NASA parking lot on September 23, 2026, at 4:18PM. Who doesn’t feel welcomed around their own mom? It is fun to go off and do things with her because we share some of the same interests – like looking for snakes.
Silhouetted Pine
Visual ArtsSilhouetted Pine
Artist
Fint F.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
An enormous Pine, in Sierra Madre, CA, is silhouetted against the sky for a brief moment on September 23, 2026 Soaring over the evening sky, this massive pine reaches ever deeper into the ground and sky, growing ever taller. When I arrive home, I always see it, welcoming me home, silhouetted, before it melts away into the night sky.
Belonging does grow on trees
Visual ArtsBelonging does grow on trees
Artist
Matthew C.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
This is a lego mandarin set gifted to me in Hong Kong when I was 5, during Chinese new year. It is on a cabinet in my living room, and it reminds me of my home city, and makes me feel welcome and at-home.
Loving Pets
Visual ArtsLoving Pets
Artist
Hayk S.
Arts activity type
Visual Arts
Reflection
My dogs Livy and Cooper. I caught this moment because I love being around my dogs. Everyday, after I come home from school, they always greet me with lots of licks and by jumping on me. They have brought so much joy and happiness into my life even with all the troubles in my family.
Join us! Show us what welcoming looks like where you live.
Submit
your welcoming story.
Send us the photos you took, with a reflection. If you are under 18, we will need consent from a parent or guardian, and signed permission from anyone clearly identifiable in your photos.
You keep ownership of your photos. Submitting gives Creative Visions and Welcoming America permission to feature your work in the gallery and related materials, always with credit to you.
Deadline: {acf_huxx_project_end_datetime: F j, Y g:i a T}
Questions? Reach us at [email protected]. Educators and youth group leaders: the toolkit includes facilitation notes and works as a standalone unit or across several sessions.