Advancing a Well-Being Narrative

Developed by the Metropolitan Group and RAND, this narrative guide offers some early thinking on a Wellbeing Narrative in the U.S. - a narrative shift…
March 5, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

Think Big February Conversation: Shifting the Story of “Hard Work”

On February 27th, the Narrative Learning Community met to explore the fraught concept of hard work in the American narrative and to discuss promising…
March 5, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

Opportunity Agenda: Messaging on the Supreme Court & The Judiciary

This year, it looks like many of us will need to communicate about the role of the Supreme Court. How can we do that in ways that build to a more constructive…
February 12, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

Spitfire’s Guide to Crisis Prep & Management

February 5, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

Washington State Budget & Policy Center: Washington state no longer has worst tax code in U.S.

This press release does it all: Promotes the win, uses the effective "upside down" metaphor to explain a complex topic, connects revenue to wellbeing and…
January 11, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

ITEP: Who Pays?

Kudos to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the 7th edition of their comprehensive analysis of tax systems in all  50 states. Connecting "upside…
January 10, 2024/by Sabine Schoenbach

We Make the Future Action: Amplifying Organizing

A messaging resource specifically designed for organizers, this new guide offers best practices together with a practical case study example (ISAIAH’s…
December 20, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Harmony Labs: How to Reach New Climate Audiences

This excellent interactive guide from Harmony Labs (in partnership with Earth Alliance) focuses on making climate culturally relevant. But the creative…
December 7, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Think Big Report: Belonging In and To America

How do we get to a future America for all of us and for everyone, a nation in which belonging is co-created and power is authentically shared?

Over…
December 2, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Think Big Community Coffee Chat: Join us on 12/14!

An informal conversation on BELONGING in and to America
Thursday, December 14th, 2023 I 12-1pm EST I 9-10am PST

Register Today
At our convening last…
November 27, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Reparations Narrative Lab: Research and Tools

The Reparations Narrative Lab  - launched by Liberation Ventures - focuses on narrative and culture change to build public support for reparations. Take…
November 4, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

October Learning Community Meeting: Reimagining American Identity

New Research Shines Light on the Story of Who We Are and Can Be
October 31st, 2023 I 12-1pm EDT I 9-10am PDT
Imagine a future in which American identity…
October 4, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

FrameWorks: The Terrain of Spatial Justice

Racism is built into places. It shapes who can live where, how resources are distributed, who gets a say over what happens in places, and more. Places…
October 2, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

NC Budget and Tax Center: Everyone contributes or this boat won’t float

Well done, NC Budget and Tax Center! This video is aspirational and explains the role corporations SHOULD play to help working people and communities.…
September 30, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Think Big: Abundance in Narrative

We often define abundance as a contrast. Abundance is NOT scarcity, NOT austerity, NOT competition for resources. So, then, what IS abundance?

What…
August 9, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

SAY IT SO THEY’LL HEAR IT: Updated Best Practices Guide

Topos Partnership has released its newly updated summary of communications principles and best practices!

SAY IT SO THEY'LL HEAR IT illustrates narrative…
July 31, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

August Learning Community Meeting on ABUNDANCE Framing

From Scarcity to Abundance: 
A Think Big Narrative Learning Community Conversation
Wednesday, August 16th I 4-5 pm EST, 1-2pm PST
 

Save…
July 11, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

How to Save a Country: We Can Defeat Zero-Sum Politics (with Heather McGhee)

This episode of Roosevelt Institute's excellent podcast How to Save a Country features Heather McGhee, Author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone…
June 20, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

FrameWorks: Framing Community Safety

A new report from The FrameWorks Institute (courtesy of The Annie E Casey Foundation and the Prevention Institute) has recommendations on Framing Community…
June 2, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

If the federal government can’t pay its bills, then millions of Americans can’t pay theirs

The debt default stalemate is careening toward next week’s hard deadline.  And while there has been solid coverage of the catastrophic consequences…
May 25, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Housing Narrative Lab: Messaging Guide for Communicating About Homelessness

Check out Housing Narrative Lab's updated Messaging Guide for Communicating about Homelessness. The guide highlights key findings from national narrative…
May 24, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Tax Justice Wins in Washington State: A Narrative Perspective

#Taxday2023 was a day to celebrate hard fought victories for tax justice in Washington State. Last month, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the…
April 26, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Louisiana Budget Project: Medicaid Works

Focused on telling success stories about this essential public system, uses voices of impacted people to reinforce the up-front systems language, talks…
April 13, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

The 19th: What would the economy look like if it worked for women?

Check out this example of Thinking Big out loud. This article and the work behind it starts with a vision, quickly gets to what solutions would get us…
April 6, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Messaging on “safety:” Some positive examples

Recent Topos' research confirms that a progressive take on “safety” is effective (and needed!). To counter efforts by conservatives to use anxieties…
April 5, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Topos: Acting On Our Values is Good Economics

Progressive economic policies that focus on people's wellbeing can hit a brick wall (or at least a sturdy parapet) constructed by the current cultural…
April 4, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

MDCEP: Connecting policy to the impacts

Instead of the usual "the pay gap between x and y is z" this tweet leads with "x group loses y because of the gap." And then it gets quickly to what that…
March 17, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Bridge Project: Reframing the Prevailing American Narrative for 2052

"Imagine a future in which American identity is untethered from white supremacy — neither white supremacist nor centered around resisting white supremacy."…
March 15, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance

Robin Wall Kimmerer considers the ethics of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy in this Emergence Magazine essay. She provides food…
March 14, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Measuring Narrative Change: Understanding Progress and Navigating Complexity

In 2021, ORS Impact released a second iteration of their 2019 Measuring Narrative Change 1.0 report to dive more deeply into narrative change concepts…
March 12, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

How We Achieve a Multiracial Democracy

America needs a new story—one that is honest and inspiring, and that doesn’t shy away from its racial history—to guide us toward realizing a thriving…
March 12, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

United for a Fair Economy: Economics for Everyone Conversation Decks

United for a Fair Economy has put out a new set of resources designed to help with everyday conversations about the economy and policy. There's a conversation…
March 11, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

We Make the Future: Fund Our Future

In collaboration with the State Revenue Alliance, We Make the Future shares digital toolkits, research findings, messaging implementation, and more on…
March 10, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Solidarity Economics by Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor

Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor invite us to imagine and examine solidarity economics – an approach grounded in our instincts for connection and community…
March 1, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Darrick Hamilton on the Moral Agenda for Economic Rights

Darrick Hamilton, Professor and and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, shares a vision for a racially…
February 27, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Maine People’s Alliance: Applying a framework of solidarity economics

Check out this piece in Beacon -  a website and podcast created by the Maine People’s Alliance -  applying a framework of Solidarity Economics to thinking…
February 27, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

March Meeting: The Narrative Power of a People-First Economy

 
The Narrative Power of a People-First Economy
March 30th, 2023
 
Recording coming soon!
 

We the people, ALL the people, drive…
February 27, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

River Valley Organizing: The importance of success stories

When people come together and get a win  (even a small one) - we should tell about it! Topos' research continues to affirm how important shouting out…
February 24, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Maurice Mitchell: Building Resilient Organizations

There are things we can and must do to shift movements for justice toward a posture of joy and victory.  Maurice Mitchell's essay delves into the problems…
February 23, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Arizona Center for Empowerment: People-First Economy and tying revenue to investments

We envision an Arizona that is bright, joyful, and full of thriving communities. However, if SCR1035 passes, we cannot create an economy that works for…
February 22, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Belonging, Community, and Impact: What it Means to Build a Political Home

Sojourn Strategies' new report follows up on a key finding from the organization's previous research on frameworks that connect with, engage, and inspire…
January 31, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Economic Security Project: A Storytelling Guide for Guaranteed Income Advocates

A thoughtful new resource from The Economic Security Project -  Building Economic Power Through Story: A Storytelling Guide for Guaranteed Income Advocates …
January 26, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes

Findings from a nationally represented survey conducted in December 2022 by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University…
January 14, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

PolicyLink: Housing Justice Narrative Toolkit

PolicyLink - along with grassroots partners and housing advocates - has released a Housing Justice Narrative Toolkit "rooted in the understanding that…
January 11, 2023/by Sabine Schoenbach

The Florida Timeline

Check out the Florida Timeline, a resource mapping state historical policy decisions in Tax Policy and Criminal (In)justice. From Florida's earliest days,…
December 14, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Policy Matters Ohio: Best practice framing, all in one tweet

So much best practice framing going on in this tweet:

Giving lawmakers agency…not a vague “our tax code is riddled with breaks”...no, someone…
November 28, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Join us for a conversation with Angela Peoples and Connie Razza

 
Thursday, December 15th I 3-4:15pm EST

REGISTER TODAY!
 
Imagine a future in which American identity is untethered from white supremacy…
November 15, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

We Make the Future: Protect our Elections Messaging Guide and Toolkit

We Make the Future's digital toolkit on how to confront false claims and protect our elections has been updated with additional narratives, content, and…
November 2, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

SSIR: Changing the Housing Narrative by Talking about Race and Values

A new discussion in the Stanford Social Innovation Review with Glenn Harris, Michael McAfee, and Dorian Warren focuses on narrative change lessons from…
November 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Community Change: Economic Narratives & Ideas Project

Community Change's Economic Narratives & Ideas Project, together with Lake Research Partners, has released new findings from quantitative and qualitative…
October 20, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

What do we mean when we say “Think Big”?

Think Big grew out of a big idea. Progressive advocates, organizers, and funders who came together to talk about communications strategies to challenge…
October 17, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

October Meeting: Democracy and the Will of the People

 
Join us for our next Narrative Learning Community Meeting:

Democracy and the Will of the People
October 27, 2022  *  3-4:15pm ET | 12-1:15pm…
October 11, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

How NOT to bust myths: An example

In an attempt to point out the harms of some bad economic policy proposals, this well-meaning expert uses all of his opening moments of this tweet to reinforce…
September 2, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Race Forward: Narrative Design Toolkit

This guide, which was developed in the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy, will help you get started in thinking about narrative, articulating…
August 3, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Heather McGhee: The Sum of Us Podcast

Heather McGhee has launched a podcast on the heels of her incredible book: The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Taking…
August 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Broke: How the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sectors are Talking about Poverty and How We Can Do Better

BROKE, a project between RadComms and the Center for Public Interest Communications,  reveals the harmful narratives keeping in place the outcomes of…
July 28, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Winning Jobs Narrative Project: A Working People-Centered Narrative for Jobs, Work, and the Economy

Based on an expansive research agenda, the Winning Jobs Narrative team has developed a narrative architecture that progressive advocates and leaders can…
July 26, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Together We Rise Minnesota Video: A vision of abundance

Check out this great video from Together We Rise Minnesota, sharing a powerful vision of abundance for the North Star State.

https://www.youtube.co…
July 13, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

NEA: An example of social math

Try your hand at social math. Data and facts, especially when they’re complicated, can prevent our core messages from breaking through. Social math can…
July 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Think Big: Narrative 101 Workshop

Meeting Highlights
In this workshop, for those new to strategic framing or looking for a refresher on narrative best practices, participants heard from…
June 23, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Beyond Winning – Change the Culture

When is a “win” not a win?

When it makes future wins harder.

Sometimes progressive policy campaigns can feel like riding a roller coaster. We…
June 2, 2022/by David Gordon

Podcast: How to Save a Country

If you haven't already, check out the new episodes of the podcast How to Save a Country in which hosts Felicia Wong and Michael Tomasky connect the dots…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Sabeel Rahman and Dorian T. Warren: From Uprising to Reconstruction

We are witnessing a power struggle over the heart and soul of America’s future. While the establishment fights to uphold the status quo of racial and…
June 1, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Two Narrative Strategies for Engaging on Race

To promote policies that advance the wellbeing of Black and brown people - while centering race, not avoiding it - Topos’ research adds two approaches…
June 1, 2022/by David Gordon

Winning Jobs Narrative Project: Phase One Report

This report represents the completion of Phase One of the Winning Jobs Narrative Project —an expansive effort to collect and review important prior and…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Opportunity Agenda: We Can Thrive Together: Visioning Economic Justice for All

 

A values-based discussion guide - in English and Spanish - with accompanying open source artwork to inspire a national conversation about economic…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

We Make the Future: Messaging Guide

 

The core narratives in this guide can be used in many ways: in conversations on a canvass or among friends; in public statements, letters, and…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Heather McGhee: Racism has a cost for everyone

Racism makes our economy worse -- and not just in ways that harm people of color, says public policy expert Heather C. McGhee. From her research and travels…
June 1, 2022/by David Gordon

Ai-jen Poo: The work that makes all other work possible

Domestic workers are entrusted with the most precious aspects of people's lives -- they're the nannies, the elder-care workers and the house cleaners who…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Dorian Warren, Erica Smiley, and Natalie Foster: Guaranteed income and worker power: The power of a permanent strike fund

Unions and a strong safety net are both necessary poles in a mutually reinforcing dynamic of growing worker power and political support for an expansive…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Insight Center for Community Economic Development: Austerity is a Dog Whistle

This post by Jhumpa Bhattacharya makes the  connections between white supremacy and austerity thinking and points to the Centering Blackness Framework…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Darrick Hamilton, Rebecca Dixon, Rachel Isacoff: Unconditional Cash and Good Working Conditions – Do we have to choose?

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is considered one of the most effective programs for reducing child poverty and promoting economic stability among…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Frameworks Institute: How do other fields think about narrative? Lessons for narrative change practitioners

This report offers eight lessons about narrative—provided by luminaries in marketing and advertising, entertainment media/narrative arts, psychoanalysis,…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

In The Public Interest: The Anti-Government Echo Chamber

This brief is a call to action about getting clear about the idea of government—that it is the only institution capable of ensuring that the public goods…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Groundwork: Austerity is Bad Economics: Why US Fiscal Conservatism Does Not Hold

This report addresses common “austerian” arguments regarding the relationship between “excessive” public spending and interest rates, inflation,…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Tiffany Manuel and Nat Kendall-Taylor: Creating Affordable Housing Opportunities Means Talking Equity

To attain affordable housing for all, we must build public support by shifting narratives away from consumer choice and personal responsibility.

 
Access…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

ReFrame: Disinfo Defense Toolkit  

This toolkit helps organizers and advocates respond to disinformation and misinformation, by seeding counter narratives that innoculate against disinformation…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Topos: Taxlandia – Putting the Strategy into Words

 

This Topos toolkit is designed to demonstrate the various ways advocates across issue areas can phrase the big ideas behind the strategies to…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Opportunity Agenda: Shifting the Narrative: Six Case Studies

 

To lay the groundwork for a sustained 21st century narrative change effort promoting mobility from poverty, criminal justice reform, and opportunity…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Frameworks Institute: Public Thinking About Care Work in a Time of Social Upheaval: Findings from Year One of the Culture Change Project

 

To what extent is this unprecedented pandemic shifting thinking about care work? The FrameWorks Institute is exploring this question as part…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Frameworks Institute: Talking about Poverty: Narratives, Counter-Narratives, and Telling Effective Stories

This report synthesizes the complex body of research around existing poverty narratives and counter-narratives, with practical advice about how to use…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

This is Signals, a project of REFRAME: The Rona Report, One Year On

Published in 2021, this report identifies dominant, emerging, and enduring narratives shaping the landscape at the nexus of Covid-19, workers, jobs, and…
June 1, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Topos: A Teaching Moment from Kansas

Topos research in Kansas points to the opportunity to nurture a cultural shift in Americans’ thinking about taxes and spending that is less reflexively…
May 30, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Public Will Initiative’s Budget and Tax Message Brief

This brief document synthesizes Topos' learnings on how Americans think about Government and how to use framing effectively to promote constructive engagement…
May 30, 2022/by David Gordon

Trabian Shorters: The Power of Perception

Asset-framing is “defining people by their aspirations and contributions before acknowledging their challenges and investing in them for their continued…
May 30, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Frameworks Institute: Talking about Budgets and Taxes

This toolkit features a compendium of research on how Americans think about budgets and taxes, and how to increase public support for policies that support…
May 27, 2022/by Sabine Schoenbach

Highlights from the Field Archive

An archive of highlights from the field:
State campaigns/Microsites

Recover Washington: Washington Recovery Agenda Makes the connections between…
May 19, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Taxlandia: Project Summary

This multipart research effort by Topos serves as a detailed map of the cultural understandings that influence public debate on taxes and budgets. To build…
April 28, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Being Heard: Voices from Marginalized Communities

For historically marginalized communities, a distant, even oppressive, government is nothing new. Yet the pain of declining community investments, the…
April 28, 2022/by David Gordon

Topos: Mainers React to the Minnesota Story

This short video provides examples of how Mainers reacted to hearing about evidence of economic success of a tax and budget policy from another state.
Watch…
April 28, 2022/by David Gordon
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