Keeping People in the Story

Human service organizations have long relied on telling stories of personal success or struggle to convey the impact and importance of a service or policy. We often include these examples in our fundraising appeals, advocacy campaigns, and media outreach with the goal of inspiring the public’s engagement and support. But we’ve learned through our partnership […]

This time of year finds the human service sector focused on engaging the public around budget decisions taking place in statehouses and in Washington, DC. We all know that rallying public support for budget priorities can be tricky. Luckily, research from the FrameWorks Institute can help us be more intentional in how we go about […]

Just after the election, the New York Times published an op-ed that has important guidance for the human service sector as we seek to engage the public’s support to address key societal challenges. “When Reportage Turns to Cynicism,” authored by David Bornstein and Tina Rosenberg of the Solutions Journalism Network, analyzes the impact of a […]

It’s been exactly one month since the 2016 campaign season reached its conclusion. During this transition period, the human services sector finds itself regrouping and developing strategies to ensure that there is an ongoing commitment to the policies and programs that build well-being in communities across the country. Engaging the public as allies and active […]

The National Reframing Initiative seeks to build Americans’ understanding of the human service sector and build public will for policy and systems solutions to the challenges it addresses. The FrameWorks Institute’s communications research shows us that using the Building Well-Being Narrative is quite effective in building a more expansive, more accurate view of the human […]