EXC: “Celebrate the demographic change of the community.” Welcoming America’s rural refugee toolkit uses that phrase to describe storytelling in Cactus, Texas. The immigration advocacy organization received a $500,000 Carnegie grant, approved in December 2025, to: “Reshape the narrative about immigrants in new destination states.” The two-year project emphasizes rural and politically diverse communities. It includes narrative training and a multimedia campaign intended to reach more than 150,000 people. Carnegie reported an endowment of roughly $5 billion. Welcoming America’s rural initiative dates to 2019. Its 2023 program required participating communities to establish inclusion goals, host a “Welcoming Week” event and draft a narrative for that event. Participants received individualized coaching. The rural toolkit describes local media as: “a positive force for changing public opinion.” It highlights public forums and educational events in Cazenovia, New York, and relationships with local media used to promote stories about immigrant entrepreneurs in Austin, Minnesota. A separate, older Welcoming America refugee-messaging guide lists these principles: “Perception trumps reality.” “Emotion trumps logic.” “Brevity trumps precision.”