If we are to make the bold changes our country and our times demand, Americans must understand and embrace our values and our core beliefs about creating a just society. Narrative is fundamental to making the cultural change that is essential for social and political change.
Mission – The mission of Our Story – The Hub for American Narratives is to support and develop the capacity among progressive organizations and leaders for powerful, values-based communication on core American beliefs.
What we do – Narrative should be a core capacity in every endeavor to make change. We can help you develop that capacity:
- Develop a powerful narrative on your mission and issues.
- Access and understand existing narratives on the issues you work on.
- Training for organizations and elected officials on using powerful narratives.
- Consulting support for using narratives in your work.
- Work with partners in your state to develop a shared progressive narrative for your state.
- Work with training centers on how to incorporate narrative training into your curriculum.
- Bring you into a community who share your passion for powerful, value-based communications.
- Contact us to find out more about how Our Story can help you develop your narrative capacity.
Who we work with – At Our Story, we work with a broad array of progressive organizations and leaders, including: community organizations, constituency groups, issue campaigns, elected officials, labor unions, think tanks, communications groups, state narrative projects and public opinion researchers. Our Story operated as a fiscally sponsored project of Proteus Fund from 2016 to 2020.
Who we are – The Our Story Advisory Committee forms a learning community to develop and strengthen powerful values-values based communication.
Richard Kirsch, Director:
Richard Kirsch, Our Story Director, combines a wealth of experience in developing and communicating narrative with an outstanding record of accomplishment leading national and state efforts to win social change. He led the development of the Progressive Economic Narrative Project and has worked with issue partners to develop narratives on economic issues and issues as diverse as the U.S. Role in the World, and public education. He has done extensive training with organizational leaders and elected officials on delivering powerful narratives.
Mr. Kirsch brings 30 years of coalition building, outreach, policy, organizing and communications work at the state and national level. He served as the National Campaign Manager of Health Care for America Now, from the Campaign’s founding to its successful conclusion with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. HCAN was an 1,100 member coalition, led by major progressive organizations, that deployed staff in 44 states and spent $47 million to organize for comprehensive health care reform. As HCAN’s chief spokesperson, Mr. Kirsch appeared on PBS’s The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America, Fox, CSPAN, and the Colbert Report and was frequently quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Richard Kirsch was a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute from 2010 through 2016. He is the author of Fighting for Our Health: The Epic Battle to Make Health Care a Right in the United States. From 1985 to 2008, Mr. Kirsch served as Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York.
Mr. Kirsch is a Contributor for The Hill. His blog posts for HuffPost can be found here.