A messaging resource specifically designed for organizers, this new guide offers best practices together with a practical case study example (ISAIAH’s campaign to build power in St. Paul, Minnesota). View the Guide
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 the last year, Topos Partnership has worked in collaboration with the Bridge Project to conduct original research – including in-depth ethnographic interviews – building on the diagnosis of our fractured American […]
The Reparations Narrative Lab – launched by Liberation Ventures – focuses on narrative and culture change to build public support for reparations. Take a look at the extensive research and tools created during the first iteration of the Narrative Lab — including narrative briefs, webinars, and framing worksheets. Access the research and tools
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 in the United States reflect, perpetuate, and amplify the racism that structures US society. Creating a racially just society requires creating a spatially just society—a society that advances […]
“Imagine a future in which American identity is untethered from white supremacy — neither white supremacist nor centered around resisting white supremacy.” The Bridge Project – a collaborative narrative research project – is working to craft a story that aligns with who want to be in three decades time and is strategizing by building backward […]
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 multiracial democracy. Angela Glover Blackwell dives into the elements of this new story in the Spring 2023 issue of SSIR, highlighting a framework around race and racism that allows us […]
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 and economically just economy (and more) in this Rockefeller Q&A. So that question I keep getting is, asking “can we achieve it tomorrow?” The answer is, I don’t know […]
A new discussion in the Stanford Social Innovation Review with Glenn Harris, Michael McAfee, and Dorian Warren focuses on narrative change lessons from the work of the Housing Justice Narrative Initiative. Access the Discussion
Community Change’s Economic Narratives & Ideas Project, together with Lake Research Partners, has released new findings from quantitative and qualitative research on economic messaging. To access the key takeaways and recommendations — see the findings presentation and briefing. Learn more
This guide, which was developed in the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy, will help you get started in thinking about narrative, articulating your narrative strategy, and designing and implementing your narrative projects. Access the Toolkit
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 a road trip across Covid-era America, McGhee explores stories of “solidarity and hope in a time of great division and peril for our democracy.” Listen to the […]
BROKE, a project between RadComms and the Center for Public Interest Communications, reveals the harmful narratives keeping in place the outcomes of capitalism and offers new narratives grounded in liberation and respect as well as a vision for a world where everyone’s needs are met. Learn more about the project and check out the new […]
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 gender oppression, economic subordination, and the hoarding of political power, our communities are fighting for what we need to live a life of dignity just like everyone else—the ability […]
To promote policies that advance the wellbeing of Black and brown people – while centering race, not avoiding it – Topos’ research adds two approaches to the body of work on using communication as a tool of creating change. In short: A barrier to policy support for some white people is a cycle of race […]
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 across the US, McGhee shares startling insights into how racism fuels bad policymaking and drains our economic potential — and offers a crucial rethink on what we […]
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 do the work that makes all other work possible. Too often, they’re invisible, taken for granted or dismissed as “help,” yet they continue to do their wholehearted best for the families […]
This post by Jhumpa Bhattacharya makes the connections between white supremacy and austerity thinking and points to the Centering Blackness Framework for a path to economic liberation. Access the Post
For historically marginalized communities, a distant, even oppressive, government is nothing new. Yet the pain of declining community investments, the rise of a police surveillance state, and the weight of inequity is felt acutely. In 2017, Topos embarked on a project to listen to the voices of people who have been marginalized by elected leaders, […]