Current dominant narratives do not reflect our country’s values, and are eroding public support for the kinds of policies our communities need. Meanwhile, the negative discourse opens the door for dangerous and divisive proposals that serve no one.
This memo sets out the tools we need to begin to counter this dominant narrative. We propose a flexible, values-based framework that we can use to start a variety of conversations: We need workable solutions that uphold our values and help us move forward together. These conversations can then move to specific issues and solutions, to specific statistics, and to compelling individual stories. But we believe that the more we all start the conversation in roughly the same place and begin our own drumbeat of values, the stronger our collective message will be, and the easier each subsequent conversation will be to start.
