Inclusive Democracy
With a concept as flexible and multifaceted as democracy, it is imperative that we think through the ways people own this power and what it means to them.
The Beyond Democracy Project
With a concept as flexible and multifaceted as democracy, it is imperative that we think through the ways people own this power and what it means to them. In The Opportunity Agenda’s Beyond Democracy project, activists, advocates, and artists from the U.S. Southeast and Southwest convene virtually to build a collaborative narrative framework around civic participation including digital strategies that utilize insights from groundbreaking psychological research.
A Narrative Strategy for Southern Communities of Color
In 2023, TOA invited artists and advocates whose work is based in the South to join our Beyond Democracy cohort. The project is to influence the thinking and motivations of Southern voters of color by meeting them where their civic interests lie. Currently, the project is supporting two cohort teams with narrative demonstration projects. These projects will build digital ad campaigns that incorporate the research findings and set them into motion, deepening the project’s core vision and goals.
The Cohort
- Daniel Joseph Barrera, Texas Organizing Project
- Arekia Shambrielle Bennett-Scott, Mississippi Votes
- Eddie Chavez Calderon, Arizona Jews for Justice
- Resita Cox, Filmmaker
- Atinuke “Tinu” Diver, Filmmaker
- Sherard “Shekeese” Duvall, Filmmaker
- Debra Freeman, New Virginia Majority
- Henry Goss, Mississippi Votes
- Jeneisha C. Harris, Activist
- Divine Henderson, Friends of Freedom House
- Andrew Bentley Hudgins, Human Rights Campaign
- Victoria Huynh, Center for Pan Asian Unity
- Mark Kendall, CoolCoolCool Video Production
- Kill Joy, Artist
- Christina Magaña, Migrant Equity
- Brianna Elizabeth McCracken Brown, Texas Organizing Project
- Frederick Murphy, History of Us / Filmmaker
- Joshua Price, Arkansas United
- Ranada Robinson, The New Georgia Project
- Daniela Rodriguez, Migrant Equity
- Sabrina Sha, Asian Texans for Justice
- Raymond Sweet, Organizer
- Allison “Allie” G Young, Creative Organizer
Thank you to the consulting firm Uprise in the establishment and guidance of the cohort and the research firm Frameshift who conducted the research that the project’s narrative strategy is built upon.