Action and Organizing
We guide groups towards a shared Narrative North Star for long-term change and big narrative interventions.
Guiding coalitions, networks and groups of grantees since 2020
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.
A 5-10 year direction
A Narrative North Star keeps everyone headed in the same direction for the next 5-10 years.
Many voices, many stories
A shared Narrative North Star allows many organizations to tell resonant and persuasive stories in their own voices, to their own audiences.
Narrating Across Issues
A Narrative North Star builds alignment across issues.
RECENT SUCCESSES
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. 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.
Through the Narrative North Star process, participants offer powerful testimonies of a shared future.
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.
The Narrative North Star service includes:
If groups are already working on their own, Narrative Initiative staff is able to provide coaching and accompaniment.
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.
