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Presentation Minutes

FUSE Washington - https://fusewashington.org/

  • Reiny Cohen, Senior Strategist, FUSE Washington.  Was the communications director for the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance (and Reiny was also an announcer on KUOW.  I should have asked for an autograph – it was a total meet-a-hero moment, and I didn’t milk it for all it was worth. I didn’t even get a selfie – although it is really the voice that is of myth and legend  - is there an audio version of a selfie?  Maybe Carl Kesell on your answering machine is as close as it gets? It is a bit belated, but I did send her a linkedin request – let’s hope for the best –ed.) - reiny@fusewashington.org
  • This is Alison’s presentation – I’m just here to make it relevant for housing
  • Alison Cheung, Communications Hub Manager, FUSE Washington, alison@fusewashington.org
  • Presentation PDF
  • FUSE is a progressive advocacy organization.  I appreciate that not everyone here is coming from a progressive position, and we will work to respect that (that was the gist of what was said, I didn’t quite get it word-for-word – ed.)
  • Our team’s work is to help Washington’s movement for change
  • We come from a progressive perspective
  • We are working to build progressive Power through story telling
  • Goals –
    • Explore the value of the narrative and why stories matter and win campaigns (“Find the story, Granny Weatherwax always said. She believed that the world was full of story shapes. If you let them, they controlled you. But if you studied them, if you found out about them... you could use them, you could change them.”, Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad.  I love Terry Pratchett novels, and the witches books are 2nd best, behind the Sam Vimes novels. I’d start with Witches Abroad.  And I bring it up, because the Witches are all about the “Story”, which became a lovely way for me to look at the world.  And Pratchett is a comic genius with more heart than most. – ed.)
    • Understand the 6 elements of an epic story and how to use them
    • Discuss how narrative strategies win campaigns
  • Hero’s Narrative
    • Similar to the Hero’s Journey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey –ed)
    • Joseph Campbell is a scholar, who noticed a story telling structure he calls the Hero’s Narrative. 
    • People love the narrative - as humans, we connect to a narrative
    • The Hero’s Narrative Project is a multi-year project started in 2010.  We brought in story tellers and lots of other folks to help build narratives that will make change happen
    • Used this narrative very effectively in getting folks on board – more so than statistics will (I shed a little tear here, but she’s right.  But if you have some data in your narrative… -ed)
    • Why a narrative?
      • Think about the story of your organization, or an issue that affects the people you serve.
      • Big Money Lobbyists have told a narrative where free-market is a solution to all our problems.  This narrative is so pervasive, it often defeats our efforts before they even get started. 
      • The goal is to shift the narrative
    • Narrative and message aren’t the same.  A narrative tells the message, but does more.  A narrative tells a cohesive story over time – like a genre oriented bookshelf – all stories working towards a common theme.
    • Here in Washington, we have lots of liberals in our state – we speak almost 100% in facts and policies.  They don’t motivate most to act – because we have lizard brains – brains that allow us to live in the moment and make quick decisions.  We make up our mind emotionally, and then seek facts to justify that perspective.  People need to feel. 
    • Values allow us to feel something.  Most Americans only spend about 5 minutes a week talking about public policy (those are the type of people I suspect my children dream about having for parents. –ed).  Audiences aren’t really listening, connecting with their values is what is going to convince people fast.  We have to convince people with emotions.  (I know I’ve rambled about this before, but I loved the book “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion”, by Jonathan Haidt – all about how we have these base moral foundations, and that if you aren’t telling stories that emotionally connect to all of those base moral foundations, and the other side is, you will lose the votes you need every time.  He’s a great story teller, too.-  https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion-ebook/dp/B0052FF7YM -ed.)
    • Repetition is key – we can feel like a broken record – but we have to be diligent to stick to the topic.  Make sure value are always there.
    • The Epic Story
      • What is a dominant narrative we hear a lot?
        • Martha – they just need to get a job
        • Theresa – people just want to be homeless.
        • Nathan – Seattle is dying narrative
        • Nathan – the idea that people are refusing services.
      • A lot of people are very convinced by these messages.  It doesn’t help to say they are wrong.  We need to tell a story that is able to bring more people in. 
    • Story Elements
      • Quest – broad, long term goal.  The frame for the story – usually high stakes framed around our value.  The hero is going after something really big.  In Harry Potter, harry is going to defeat Voldemort and bad magic affecting wizards everywhere.  In housing – the quest is that everyone has an opportunity to life in a safe and affordable home.
        • A policy goal is never the hero -
      • Threat – the call to action for the audience.  The threat is the danger posed by the villain – it is close to home.  In Harry Potter, the threat is dark magic taking over the world (personified by the Death Eaters at the World Quidditch Cup in book 4 – an amazing start to by far the best book in the series. Oh my gosh, I’m going to go reread that right now –ed).  In  housing, it is the rise in homelessness – people becoming homeless for a variety of reasons – rising rents, stagnant wages, behavioral health – all in the threat. 
        • Many make a mistake in talking about the threat and ending there.  We have to be aspirational and talk about what the world would be like without the threat. (I love this part. –ed)
        • We need end by saying it doesn’t have to be this way.  We need to put it in terms they can see it in everyday life.  How it might affect someone they know or work with
        • Think about people who weren’t active and then became active – what inspired them? 
      • Heroes – we need a hero at the heart of the story – it has to be about the people we are trying to serve.  These are the shoes your audience puts themselves in.
        • Heroes have a sense of right and wrong, and willingness to fight.  They also have a strength – like being a good parent, or just being a strong person.  The hero should be a regular person, not a politician.  One example could be responsible business owners standing up to have their voice heard.  Another example - Harry Potter is a good friend.  In homelessness there are a variety of heros – service providers, people on the verge of homeless or experiencing homelessness.  We fall back on the policy or government as our heroes.  That is a trap (“It’s a trap” – Admiral Ackbar) – heroes need to be everyday people.
      • Hero’s tools – policies and programs we need – how we talk about our policies in a way that allow our heroes to succeed.  How the hero achieves the quest.  Make sure they are values-based.  Need to make sure they show why the policy matters and how it affects people’s lives.  “We’ll be able to help this many more people” – show why it matters.  In Harry Potter, the hero’s tools are a wand – something that allows them to fight back against evil.  Martha – it is friendship, that is Harry Potter’s Strength. Raney – yes, friendship is values-based. In homelessness– landlords are often villains, and the hero is someone who couldn’t get an apartment.  A bill that helps the hero get housing is the tool for the hero – maybe the person with section 8 voucher is the hero in the story.
      • Villain – the controversial thing.  We need to name the villain – these are real people taking actions to threaten the lives of the people we are trying to serve.  We must hold them accountable.  It can be deep pocketed special interests, it can be a politician.  It has to be justifiable, and we have to describe their actions.  Villains always have a weapon.  And the story always  needs a villain.  With homelessness, the homeless person is often the villain when other are narrating the story.  We must narrate another one.  In homelessness, it is challenging.  You can’t always have landlords as villains – they are often partners.  Needed to identify for-profit landlords who are denying people.  That can be more specific than we want – but you do what you have to do. 
      • Villain’s Weapons – how we talk about our opponents do their work.  In homelessness, they are often using discrimination against people with low income.  Lobbying can be the villain’s weapon.  Martha – weapon is value based – the landlords says they’ll have their private property destroyed – get folks on their side with a narrative like that – fear of something that probably won’t happen is compelling.  Fear is a common weapon. 
    • Joy – sometimes it seems like the villain doesn’t tell the correct facts – you say we need to work on emotions, but sometimes the facts are being lied about and we need correct facts – how do we do that at the same time.  Reiny- connect on values first, then you can fill them with the proper facts.  Facts don’t changes someone’s mind, especially when fed a set of facts they believe.  Alison – if you are coming to someone spitting these lies in your face – and speak to their fears – “I agree we all want to be safe…”, then discuss how a policy will get everyone to a shared value.  Try to reach people on a human level.
    • Carolyn – are there some strategies around racism – often values outwardly are to be antiracist, but they still have racist behaviors.  But it is hard to call someone a racist.  Do you try to be color blind?  Reiny – do you mean when you are looking at solutions.  In the housing alliance, we ran things through an equity lens to make sure it was actually benefiting the groups we were trying to benefit.  In advance, look at your solution and make sure that every element is included.  Carolyn – how do you work that into the story?  Alison – color blindness isn’t a good policy.  We don’t need to cater to people who believe that inequities aren’t the fault of certain groups.  We need to be diligent and honest about inequities – and we need to show a good story. 
    • Carolyn Read – thanks for all you do.   Do you have a lot of challenges with lobbyist for developers?  Answer - depending on the situation, the villain changes – for-profit developers, landlords, developers.  Our challenge is always that we need these people on our side to pass a bill.  You have to  workshop when a villain is appropriate.  You can usually use powerful special interests.  If you have to be vague, be vague, but being as specific as you can is always best (it is funny, as I listened to the presentation, I kept thinking about how hard I work to have a common villain with my opposing side.  If landlords are narrating around a person experiencing homelessness as a villain, I try to find a common hero – maybe a homeless veteran – and a common villain – maybe untreated PTSD. That forces them to have to change their narrative a bit.  I know this doesn’t always work, but I try.  And I do agree it is all about the story. –ed)
    • GH Pastor – one question we have to ask is what is our personal intent.  In communication, you need to talk about why it matters to them.  You have to answer the question about the person you are talking to.  Know who your audience is. 
    • Narrative in Action.
      • Example – a narrative we all know – the free market quest – 50 years ago the term free market was relatively unknown (although Adam Smith published the idea in “Wealth of Nations” a couple hundred years ago, it did only reach the current level of near-religious devotion recently –ed).
        • Threat – redistribution of the wealth – money you earned will be wasted
        • Hero – tax payers, small business
        • Tools – hard work and talent, liberty
        • Villain – big government, liberals, welfare queens, tree-huggers
        • Villains Weapons - taxes , over-regulations, nanny state, collective marketing
        • Values- individual freedom, liberty, self-sufficiency, laziness punished 
        • Outcomes – many government programs are underfunded. 
      • Group exercise - exercise results in a chart
        • Quest - People exiting incarceration get reintegrated into the community
        • Threat – criminal records that will block housing or employment or history of homelessness or eviction or economic status. 
        • Hero – service providers, advocates, decision makers, People with lived experience. 
        • Hero’s Tools – (I don’t quite think we got to these.-ed)
        • Villains – potential employers and landlords. People who benefit from capitalism.  For profit prisons
        • Villains’ Weapons – policies blocking access, stoking fear.  Propaganda, “bad person” narrative.  Social Media.  Control of the media – Sinclair. (a hush came around the room when Sinclair was named, as if someone said Voldemort. –ed). 
      • Another Group Exercise  
        • Quest -  Providing primary healthcare to people experiencing homelessness
        • Threat – repeal of the Affordable Care Act
        • Heroes – health care providers, people that need the healthcare
        • Tools – (again, I don’t think we did this part. –ed)
        • Villains – insurance industry and their lobbyists, Donald Trump.  Hospital CEOs and presidents.  Pharmaceutical industry.  Political Donations that dump a lot of money into politics
        • Weapons – Dividing people.  People see division as a tool.
      • And yet another Group Exercise. 
        • Quest - End homelessness
        • Threat –
        • Heroes - Homeless Students. 
        • Heroes Tools – working together.  Coalitions.  Money.  National alliance of social workers code of ethics.  Workforce development so jobs are available.  Laws are tools. 
        • Villains – Funding to the educational system.  Property owners – NIMBY and the real estate lobby.  Landlord lobby.  Blackstone hedge fund.  
        • Weapons – Division
    • Any time you are telling a story – make sure you are hitting all 6 parts of the narrative.  Make sure heroes are someone relatable.  Try to see if you are bringing the right parts out.  Be repetitive.  Say the same thing over and over again.  We need a common set of narratives.  We want our vision to be as strong as the Free Market narrative. 
    • James – like to be open to all different perspectives – and we appreciate you being upfront about the liberal bend. 
    • I read and enjoyed Joseph Campbell’s  – “The power of myth”.  (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QZACH6/ )– really enjoyable.         
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