An America that Works for All of US – Multi-Issue-Narrative

An America that Works for All of US – Multi-Issue- Narrative

Overall Quest
An America that works for all of us
An America that works for all of us is a narrative that unites a wide variety of issues, as presented in long narrative form and in a slide show with script. Below we list the banners that shape the narrative and examples of issues that can be described under each banner. These are just examples; every issue can be placed under at least one banner and some fit under multiple banners.

Banners:

An economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.

  • Good jobs – minimum wage; pay equity; earned sick; etc.
  • Job creation; infrastructure; climate/green jobs
  • Freedom to organize a union

A government that works for all of us, not just corporate lobbyists.

  • Education: K-12 and higher ed
  • Health care
  • Retirement and social security
  • Taxes and budget issues

A democracy that works for all of us, not just CEO campaign contributors.

  • Voting rights
  • Campaign finance
  • Union organizing

A nation that works for all of us.

  • Criminal justice
  • Immigration
The full version of this narrative is a powerful telling of how we create a progressive America, guaranteed to get a great audience response. It is designed to tell a powerful, understandable story as a whole AND to be a guide to communications separately about any of the issues addressed. You can apply this narrative frame to anything from a short sound bite on one issue, to organizing materials, email blasts, blogs and opeds, testimony to a whole speech.

Download An America that Works for ALL of US

To access the Speaker notes: on the Google Slides control panel 
select the options button (gear icon), then open speaker notes.

Racial Justice – Narrative Guidance

opportunity-agenda_logo

Experience from around the country shows that discussing racial inequity and promoting racial justice are particularly challenging today. Some Americans have long been skeptical about the continued existence of racial discrimination and unequal opportunity. But with the historic election of an African American president, that skepticism is more widespread and more vocal than ever. President Obama’s important political victory, in other words, threatens to eclipse the large body of evidence documenting the continuing influence of racial bias and other barriers to equal opportunity. The current economic crisis, moreover, has fostered a welcome discussion of socioeconomic inequality, but often to the exclusion of racial injustice.

This memo sets out 10 principles that can help facilitate productive communications on racial justice problems and solutions. It is intended for communications with “persuadables”—that is, audiences who are neither solidly favorable nor unfavorable on these issues, but are capable of persuasion through the right approaches. This includes large segments of the U.S. public, as well as many journalists, policymakers, and opinion leaders who influence the public debate. The recommendations are derived from public opinion and media research as well as practical experience over the last year.

Download the PDF at the Opportunity Agenda

Ten Lessons for Talking About Race