Action and Organizing

Narrative power is central to deep, lasting social change. But building narrative power in the world means building narrative capacity within your community. Our Action and Organizing work focuses on creating and supporting networks and empowering movement partners to build–and act on–a long-term vision for change. We have several working groups that are grapple with challenges to equity within their respective fields and collaborate to create big narrative interventions. We organize strategy labs to provide a space for experimentation and content testing. We hold regional and global convenings to build a network of narrators and drive deeper collaboration.

Narrative North Star

To build narrative power, we need big people power. That’s where the alignment process of a Narrative North Star (NNS) comes in. Since 2020, Narrative Initiative has been guiding  groups of organizations through the process of envisioning a narrative future together, and then implementing that shared point of orientation across communications, policy, advocacy, and culture work.

A Narrative North Star consists of core values and concepts that build a new worldview. One NNS can span issues and movements because it is built from core values. For example, for the Green New Deal Network, the Narrative North Star was “Building the good life for all,” grounded in three deep narratives: repair, care, and prepare. While they were focused on passing Green New Deal legislation soon, this NNS didn’t focus on energy or environment-specific values. The long-term Narrative North Star was broad enough to support efforts to address the housing crisis, honor care workers, and build worker power. It was also specific enough to see how these efforts are linked. A Narrative North Star offers an opportunity to build alignment across issues and see the intersectionality of our work.

Since forming the Green New Deal Network’s Narrative North Star in 2020, we’ve created clear, inspiring, powerful points of narrative alignment for ProsperOK, health equity grantees of The California Endowment, RWJF’s Mindsets Consortium, worker centers, and more. Every Narrative North Star process has provided the opportunity for movement workers to give powerful testimonies of a shared future. We design Narrative North Star processes to weave groups more tightly together, to build on the sense of shared fate, and to get diverse groups more deeply invested in each other’s purpose. Narrative organizing works, and will make your effort stronger.

A Narrative North Star is a powerful tool to unify and align many voices across many groups, and to keep everyone headed in the same direction for the next 5-10 years. It’s a more nimble and effective strategy than lockstep message discipline—because a shared Narrative North Star allows many organizations to tell resonant and persuasive stories in their own voices, to their own audiences. Like a mission statement keeps a nonprofit on the same page, a Narrative North Star keeps a coalition, network, or group of grantees on the same narrative page.

To strengthen your group of groups (coalition, network, or group of grantees), Narrative Initiative offers tailored services for achieving narrative wins. In brief, the offerings include:

  • Narrative North Star Readiness Assessment
  • Narrative North Star for a local, state, regional or national network/ coalition
  • Coaching /accompaniment for network/ coalition undertaking narrative alignment activities
 

Below, we describe these offerings in a bit more detail.

 

NNS Readiness Assessment

This service is for groups considering narrative alignment activities. The Narrative North Star process is best for groups of groups: coalitions, networks, groups of grantees, etc.
 
Through interviews and surveys, Narrative Initiative  staff will assess how prepared a group is to undertake a narrative alignment process. Assessment indicators include: understanding of the wider narrative landscape your intervention is within, other types of power-building and alignment (political, etc), roles and audiences, existing strategy, leadership buy-in and more. The product of this service is a readiness report indicating strengths and weaknesses worth considering in a Narrative North Star alignment process.
 

 

Narrative North Star for a local, state, regional or national network/ coalition

The Narrative North Star process results in a customized, unique Narrative North Star. This service includes:
  • Process design
  • Recruitment
  • Facilitated dialogues
  • Transcription and qualitative coding
  • Sensemaking
  • Writing the  Narrative North Star
  • A  written Narrative North Star report
  • Capacity-building sessions on the new Narrative North Star
 

 

Coaching and accompaniment for network/ coalition undertaking narrative alignment activities

If groups of groups are already working on their own, Narrative Initiative staff is able to provide coaching and accompaniment. Based on our past experiences, we’re well-equipped to advise on process design and execution, sensemaking and synthesis to determine points of narrative alignment, and implementation of the alignment.
 

 

Narrative North Star Implementation Support

This service includes program design and implementation for the rollout of a Narrative North Star across organizing, policy, and/or communications activities. This can take the form of an Implementation Studio, or other forms.
 
Interested in learning more about how a Narrative North Star will help you win? Fill out this brief form (less than three minutes) and we’ll be in contact with you.

Working Groups

 

Bridging the gap between everyday communications work and longterm narrative strategy can be challenging. We build skilled, well-resourced narrative power centers, starting in social movement spaces, as close to community leaders as possible, to run meaningful narrative interventions. Working groups are the building blocks of our narrative organizing work.

 

Asian American Working Group

In partnership with the Center for Asian American Media, the Vincent Chin Center and Asian American Futures, our group of AAPI changemakers is grappling with the impact of the Model Minority Narrative on culture and policy.

Care and Health Equity Working Group

Disability justice and health equity are key themes across our work. We collaborate with Long Covid Justice and reproductive justice coalitions. Our organizing department gathers organizations and coalitions focused on health equity and builds their capacity to tackle harmful narratives, such as "deservingness" and "individualism." We are also working towards a museum exhibition on doulas and their critical role for maternal health.

Rural Urban Unity Working Group

Rural communities have often been excluded from the conversation on multiracial democracy building. In collaboration with the 22nd Century Initiative, we are building power with rural democracy organizers nationwide, whose work includes cultural strategy and community organizing. As frontline defenders against the rise of authoritarian populism, rural democracy organizers are critical to our long-term goal of building a true, multiracial democracy.

Climate Migration Working Group

Mass migration due to climate catastrophes is a growing global concern. Currently, we have partnered with Organizing Resilience to bring narrative organizing into disaster relief efforts. We also collaborate with climate change organizations to create a narrative strategy that resists criminalizing immigrants and further securitizing our shared natural resources.