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| This initiative is a project of the National Human Services Assembly and is generously funded by The Kresge Foundation and Annie E. Casey Foundation.
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| Building a Convincing Case for Reframing
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Develop a Pitch So that you secure an organization-wide commitment to implementing the Building Well-Being Narrative, we recommend crafting a clear, concise ten-minute pitch to convince leadership and stakeholders of reframing’s significance. We’ve found that emphasizing the below needs, solutions, and benefits yields positive feedback and results. - Needs: With decreasing public funding, and in many cases private donations, as well as the increased push for punitive policies that do not serve the realities of the people who access services and why they do, it is more important than ever to gain public support for your organization by clearly demonstrating the impact human services have improving community well-being by fulfilling human potential. Be sure to highlight any particular funding (e.g. state budget cuts) or policy developments (e.g. onerous eligibility requirements for services) that are impacting your organization and the people you serve.
- Research: The FrameWorks Institute research reveals that the public’s common misperceptions about human services, based on ingrained default cultural narratives, limit support for the sector. For instance, focus groups and surveys showed how public views diverge from experts about causes and responsibility for solutions to people’s challenges. In particular, the public focuses on individual attributes, like willpower and grit, as determinants for well-being, while leaders in the field point to policies, systems, and community conditions. If we want to engage the public more deeply as advocates and supporters, we need to bridge these gaps in understanding.
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Source: FrameWorks Institute, Handed to them on a Plate: Map the Gaps Report, 2013. | |
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| - Solution: The FrameWorks Institute research shows that presenting human services as a story arc that relies on the Building Well-Being Narrative (human potential value, construction explanatory metaphor, and full lifecycle that includes prevention) is successful in gaining public understanding about human services’ impact.
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Source: FrameWorks Institute | |
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| - Benefits: Research shows reframing with the complete narrative is effective in giving the public a more accurate understanding of what human services are (e.g., prevention, research, advocacy) and increases public support for the full range of human services.
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Source: FrameWorks Institute, Talking Human Services MessageMemo, 2015. | |
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| - Next Steps: Be prepared to offer ideas for how the organization can start to incorporate reframing in its primary communications, including in a mission statement, or new initiatives, such as upcoming advocacy campaigns (see Getting Started with the Building Well-Being Narrative). Offer suggestions for pacing and prioritizing implementation based on your organization’s staff and resource capacity. For example, you may suggest starting sequentially with the most-used communications pieces that have the biggest impact, such as “about us” language.
Leverage Reframing Resources In formulating your pitch, make sure to take advantage of the National Reframing Initiative’s resources (including the graphics above) to demonstrate the need for and benefits of reframing: We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from implementing partners about the advantages of the Building Well-Being Narrative using elements of the above pitch. Provide Us Feedback We’re here to help and want to hear from you! To enable us to collect best practices to share across the sector, please send any of your organization’s successes (i.e., what worked, challenges overcome) gaining support for the Building Well-Being Narrative to Bridget Gavaghan, Director of the National Reframing Initiative. Please also email any questions about our pointers to present reframing to your organization’s leadership and stakeholders to Bridget.
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We have a robust set of free tools to better equip you integrating this new narrative into your communications strategies.
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Contact Us
For more information on how your organization can join the reframing mobilization, or for any questions about this newsletter or the online tools or website information, please contact Bridget Gavaghan at bgavaghan@nassembly.org.
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