Talking Points: Opportunity and Economic Recovery (2009)

This memo offers communications advice for talking about protecting and expanding opportunity during the current economic downturn.  It draws on recent opinion research, media analysis, and experience from the field to offer promising approaches and messages.

While the public mood is unquestionably gloomy, we also see some important opportunities for talking positively about social justice issues and solutions in the context of economic recovery.  For instance, the downturn has inspired conversations about our interconnectedness as a nation and as a people—the notion that we’re all in this together.  And current and future stimulus policies offer chances to ensure that our most vulnerable and historically overlooked communities are included in any recovery plans.  We can use opportunities like these to create messages that continue to promote our shared values, center social justice issues in the national conversation, and inspire solutions that expand opportunity for everyone living here.