Raleigh, North CarolinaSeptember 28, 2012

Building Community Support: Telling Our

Story

North Carolina Housing Coalition

2012 Annual Conference

We need to change the terrain on which discussions about our issues

occur

Strategic Communications Work

in Oregon

“Housing Messages That Work” + strong base building

•Legislative champions•Team discipline

= Policy and Funding gains

Strategic Communications Work

in Oregon

Since 2009, we’ve invested in developing curricula and methodology

for ongoing training and support

The Advocates College launched in Fall 2010, in partnership with Patrick Bresette of Public Works

knowledge

stories

cultural models

experience

myths

media

patterns of association

frames

stereotypes

We are not blank slates

Frames are mental structures that help people understand the world, based on particular cues from outside themselves that activate assumptions and values they hold within themselves.

Berkeley Media Studies Group

Framing Happens

• Frames are used by our brains to make sense of incoming information

• It happens fast

• Once triggered, they are hard to dislodge

LIQMFI FSS

LIQMFI FSS

Frames Influence Decisions

“Every frame defines the issue, explains who is responsible, and suggests potential solutions. All of this is conveyed by images, stereotypes, or anecdotes.”

- Charlotte Ryan, Prime Time Activism, 1991

Sam is a Snake

• Would you lend money to Sam?

• Would you let him housesit?

• Would you like him to date your friend?

• Would you trust him to keep a secret?

Dominant “stories”, cultural models and habits of thinking shape perceptions

CITY

I confess to a prejudice. I believe that Cities are the most important single unit of human society.  They are to human beings what beehives are to bees.  Human beings are fundamentally community beings . . . No other level of government has to face so directly the reality of how well we or poorly we work as a human community.  We are bound together.  The municipal leader knows it, and sees it.

Pragmatism, Prophecy, and Prayer - The Rev. B. P. Campbell, Virginia Municipal League, Prayer Breakfast, 24 October 2005

our brains are rapidly seeking to connect new information to the existing

stories in our heads

The Benevolent Community

The Triumphant Individual

Independence

Interdependence

Dave Kolpack / AP“Self-Made Man” – Irene Ritter

The EconomyGovernment

Dave Kolpack / AP“Self-Made Man” – Irene Ritter

Core Beliefs about Poverty

• Each individual is responsible for his or her own success or failure;

• With hard work comes reward;

• The goal is equal opportunity, not equal outcome; and

• Anyone can achieve the “American Dream”.

Source: Meg Bostrom, For an Economy that Works for All

Speaking to Values Directs

Thinking

• We reason first from deeply held values.

• Values help answer: “Why does this matter to me/us?”

• We need to start with Values, not with the policy and program details

Values Matter

Levels of Thinking• Level One – Big ideas:

protection, justice, family well-being,, equality, opportunity, prosperity

• Level Two – Issues:housing, the environment,, children’s issues,, workforce development

• Level Three – Policies:pay equity, bycatch,, SCHIP presumptive eligibility,, EITC

Levels of Thinking – Housing examples

• Level One – Big ideas:family well-being,, opportunity, prosperity, community, safety

• Level Two – Issues:affordable housing, job training, education

• Level Three – Policies:neighborhood livability, transit access, density

Why does this matter? Homelessness is one of our nation's most serious social problems. While it is often the result of interwoven systemic and personal problems, the primary cause of homelessness among families is the growing gap between housing costs and income. The emergency shelter system is able to accommodate only a small fraction of the growing number of homeless families in need. Families are forced to live in their cars, in garages, in other places unfit for human habitation or to move from place to place with their children, staying intermittently with friends and families. Even a short period of homelessness can lead to depression, mental illness and child neglect, yet increasing numbers of families are homeless for months and sometimes years. Emergency shelters are unable to provide the intensive long-term assistance which homeless families require in order to stabilize their lives. While transitional housing programs do provide such assistance, families are more responsive to service interventions from a stable, permanent housing base.

Speak to Values FirstHousing gives people an opportunity to build better lives, and our communities are better and strong when we and our neighbors can afford to pay rent and still have money left over for food and medicine. Today, too many families in our community are experiencing homelessness and housing instability. When families get the help they need to find and stay in safe, stable and affordable housing, they can help provide for their children, improve their health, and find stable employment. We all deserve the opportunity to build better lives. To succeed, we all need a place to call home.

Housing Messages That Work!

Housing related values propositions

• Hardworking people should be able to afford housing and still have enough money for groceries and other basic necessities

• Children deserve an opportunity to succeed in school and life, which is tied to having a stable home

• Housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives. To succeed you need a place to call home

• It’s only fair that everyone has a safe, decent place to live

Don’t “Otherize”

Don’t “Otherize”

• Avoid talking about “the poor” in ways that sets them apart as “not like the rest of us”…

• Avoid the three P’s – poverty as poison, plague or paradox – and similar distancing language

• Avoid language that suggests “the poor” are categorically distinct from groups like the “working class” or “middle class”

• Avoid language that implies a sharp break in the prevalence of economic hardship at the Federal Poverty Line.

Adapted from remarks by Shawn Fremstad

The Power of Metaphors Facts ?

Understanding means finding a story you already know and saying, “Oh yeah, that one.” Even just one piece of affirming information about a stereotype is sufficient to confirm the entire stereotype, whereas presentation of even several disconfirming cues has little effect on disconfirming the stereotype.

- (Schank, 1998 & Gurwitz and Dodge, 1977)

Facts do not Trump Frames

Elephants!

Reinforcing the Opposing Frame

"The governor is not talking about taking away people's French fries. He just wants to offer them the choice of having carrots."

Oregon's governor wants healthier state work force, but vendors say don't take the Snickers (The Oregonian, 10/6/10)

““People assume that women in TANF are stupid, lazy, inarticulate and passive—and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Will Pennsylvania Rip Another Hole in the Safety Net? (The Nation, 4/13/12)

Reinforcing a Counter Frame

"It seems like a naïve goal. Poverty has been around forever, and the homeless, no matter how prosperous a nation or a county might be, seem to be omnipresent. But in 2008, Fairfax County… committed itself to preventing and ending homelessness in 10 years.“

Dedicated to ending homelessness by 2018 The Washington Post, 8/18/11

“The stereotype of homeless people as single, middle-aged adults doesn’t really apply in Washington County.”

Helping Homeless Families in Washington CountyOPB Radio, 5/22/08

Potential Elephant Indicators

• Not “This is not about….” “We are not…”

• Don’t / Won’t“We don’t intend to ____, rather…..”

• But “This can be an issue of ____, but….”“It is expensive, but…”

• Nevertheless, etc.

Portrait

Landscape

Different Stories > Different Solutions

Portraits• Individuals• Events• Private• Appeal to

consumers• Better information• Fix the person

Landscapes• Issues• Trends• Public• Appeal to

citizens• Better Policies• Fix the Condition

- Based on work by Iyengar and Gilliam

We need to create collective Narratives, not individual Stories . . .

Public or Private Responsibility?

“The use of either the episodic [portraits] or the thematic [landscapes] news frame affects how individuals assign responsibility for political issues; episodic framing tends to elicit individualistic rather than societal attributions of responsibility while thematic framing has the opposite effect. Since television news is heavily episodic, its effect is generally to induce attributions of responsibility to individual victims or perpetrators rather than to broad social forces.”

(Iyengar, 1991)

Ripple Effects

What are all the ways we are all affected?

Shared Benefit

"In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all go down, as one people.”

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt

“At many pivotal moments in our state’s history we have chosen to build a brighter future for ourselves and our children. We did this not simply by asking

what we can afford to do today but also asking what we must do to protect our future. Our state has

tremendous resources at our disposal – hard working people, ingenuity and financial resources that can all be brought to bear in order to build a better quality of life for our state. The state budget decisions we make

reflect our commitment to making that future a reality. Getting there may require more of our

collective resources, but our future is worth it.”

Chicken Little

Crisis or Solution?

Rolling to Solution

5% What’s Wrong

15% What’s at Stake

80% What Needs to Happen

Solution Oriented Language

An example:

- “We know what works.”- “We can solve this problem.”- “There’s a tested solution for this.”

The Message Box• A tool to keep you “on message”

• Helps distill your key arguments to the ones you need to repeat over and over.

• Keeps you focused on Level One Values and Solutions

• Gives you the “cheat sheet” for interviews and debates.

• The place you bridge and pivot back to from hard questions and damaging frames.

Vision

Values

SolutionProblem

Vision

A clear statement of the problem you are trying to address in a way that everyone can see their stake in addressing the issue.

The solution you are proposing

and the principles or

outcomes it is designed to

achieve.

The Level One Values that underpin the challenge and your proposed solution. The answer to the “why does it matter”

question.

Values

SolutionProblem

Your vision for the community, state, society. A sense of the purpose and

goal that drives you to seek the change you are working for. Your

aspiration and inspiration.

Vision

Right now, families are struggling to survive – facing choices like paying rent or buying food and medicine. Our basic safety net programs aren’t a luxury, but a life-raft for kids and families. We need to make sure that temporary assistance is available for families when they need it so that every Oregonian has the opportunity to succeed..

Our state has tremendous

resources at our disposal – hard

working people, ingenuity and

financial resources that can all be

brought to bear in order to build a

better quality of life for our state. The

state budget decisions we make

reflect our commitment to

making that future a reality. We need

XXX to do YYY.

Values

SolutionProblem

At many pivotal moments in our state’s history we have chosen to build a brighter future for ourselves and our children. We did this not simply by asking

what we can afford to do today but also asking what we must do to protect our future. Getting

there may require more of our collective resources, but our future is worth it.

Oregon exceptionalism, future generations, protection, opportunity, shared well being. In the coming legislative session we must make decisions that protect our future, build jobs and opportunities and protect those hardest hit by the economic downturn. These are the actions that will uphold Oregon values.

Problem

Vision

Values

Solution

Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. We believe in an Oregon where families and neighbors

are supported in times of crisis, and given opportunities to contribute.

The economic downturn means that too many

families and individuals can’t afford to pay their

rent and may experience homelessness. All families

and individuals have critical moments of

needing assistance, and too many Oregon families don’t have personal safety

nets to protect them during these times. We

need to protect those most impacted by the economic downturn who don’t have

a strong safety net. We believe in an Oregon where families and individuals live in

healthy communities, have opportunities to succeed in life, and those most impacted by the economic downturn are protected from the worst of its impacts. We believe that

housing provides children with an opportunity to succeed in life. We believe in an Oregon where we pull together as a

community during hard times.

We need to continue our existing efforts to prevent and end homelessness for

families and individuals throughout Oregon. We

need to protect the Emergency Housing Account which meets some needs of those most impacted by the economic downturn across

Oregon. This proven, effective and efficient

program will help prevent and end homelessness for thousands of Oregonians.