Messaging Guides
Featured Resources
Guide to Messaging Our Freedoms
In this guide, we provide examples for how to message towards the future that we deserve – rooted in the freedom frame, the Race Class Narrative, and other empirically-based messaging practices. What we share here are proven approaches to motivate, inspire our audiences to take action, and push people toward our desired solutions.
Race Class (Gender) Narrative Messaging Template
RC(G)N messages follow a specific narrative architecture that you can adapt for any progressive campaign across issues. Use the following template as a starting point for delivering your issue through an RC(G)N message framework.
Messaging this Moment
Learn the principles of persuasive and mobilizing messaging with examples for how to apply them.
Winning With The Race Class Narrative
Continuously iterated, refined and tested, the Race Class Narrative has been used across the country to pass progressive policies, increase organizational support, and win campaigns and elections. This memo offers a non-exhaustive (and continuously updated) list of victories since RCN’s inception in 2017 as concrete examples of its impact so far.
Climate Justice
Mobilizing Towards Climate Justice
Messaging guidance that mobilizes towards climate justice through naming who is really responsible for climate disasters: wealthy corporations and the politicians they buy.
Mobilizing Americans After a Climate Disaster
With the visceral impacts of the outcomes of destroying our climate on display, we urge campaigners, communicators, and community leaders to use the following guidance to mobilize and move our base and persuadable audiences to call out for action and leadership that will protect our climate, our families and our futures.
Economic Justice
Herramientas Digitales: Financiar Nuestro Futuro
Esta es una herramienta digital para ganar la narrativa para proveer atención médica, los servicios y el apoyo que nuestras familias necesitan al asegurar que las corporaciones ricas y los multimillonarios nos paguen lo que deben.
Fund Our Future: Digital Toolkit
This is a digital toolkit for winning the narrative to fund the care, support and services our families need by making sure wealthy corporations and billionaires pay us what they owe. Please share far and wide so that we can create a system where we all can thrive.
Rescue Package Messaging Guide
A memo on how to celebrate what we secured, what we are organizing to deliver next, and how to counter opposition distractions.
Inflation Reduction Act
Messaging to mobilize our base and persuade the conflicted regarding the latest win we’ve delivered for working families through the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Telling the Real Story on Rising Prices
Messaging guidance to help break through the noise and connect the dots for voters regarding the prices they pay at the pump and how corporations are profiting.
Gig Work Messaging
Testing results and creative content designed to persuade and mobilize drivers and riders to exert pressure on app-corporations such as Uber and Lyft.
Education
Safe and Equitable Schools
Messaging guidance to make the case for resourcing public education to provide a safe, equitable and qualityeducation for all students, no matter their race, background, or zip code.
Honesty In Education
Messaging guidance to combat attempts to stoke fear about how and what we teach our kids.
Restorative Justice and Rethinking Discipline
Messaging guidance to help make the case to fund the programs and resources that make our schools safe for all while eliminating the police presence that directly impedes learning.
Freedom to Learn: Digital Toolkit
This digital toolkit is based on our Freedom To Learn: Demanding Accurate, Honest and Fully Funded Public Education messaging guide. Use this digital toolkit to boldly, loudly, and repeatedly share our vision for public education.
Freedom to Learn Messaging Guide
Messaging guidance based in the Race Class Narrative for educators, parents, administrators and advocates making the public case for a racially and economically just approach to education.
Free to Learn – Messaging Student Debt Cancellation and Beyond
Messaging guidance celebrating the historic cancellation of significant amounts of student debt for millions of Americans, and how we can build off this moment.
Español
Herramientas Digitales: Financiar Nuestro Futuro
Esta es una herramienta digital para ganar la narrativa para proveer atención médica, los servicios y el apoyo que nuestras familias necesitan al asegurar que las corporaciones ricas y los multimillonarios nos paguen lo que deben.
Libertad de Votar
Guía para hablar sobre derechos de los votantes.
Manual de Mensajes Sobre COVID-19
Habla sobre COVID-19 de una manera que transmita urgencia, una visión saludable y solidaridad interracial.
Mensaje para el Momento
Como movilizar a nuestras bases y persuadir a los indecisos sobre las protestas y la justicia racial.
Gender Justice
Winning Against Right-Wing Scapegoating on Race and Trans Youth
How do we hold our ground while the right fearmongers around transgender youth, ‘parental rights,’ and Critical Race Theory? New research by ASO Communications, Lake Research Partners, and Transgender Law Center uses the Race Class Gender Narrative to rebuff these attacks and chart a winning path forward.
Transgender Youth and the Freedom to Be Ourselves
Messaging guidance based in the Race Class Narrative for organizers and advocates building a strong, vocal, and durable multiracial coalition championing a trans-inclusive, progressive vision for the country.
Health
Manual de Mensajes Sobre COVID-19
Habla sobre COVID-19 de una manera que transmita urgencia, una visión saludable y solidaridad interracial.
National COVID-19 Messaging Guide
Talk about COVID-19 in a way that conveys urgency, a healthy vision, and cross-racial solidarity.
Color-Coded Barriers to Health
A Race Class Narrative approach to talking about the color-coded barriers to health.
Drug & Opioid Overdose Narratives
A guide to move people toward public-health oriented solutions and away from accepting punitive approaches.
Human Rights
Human Rights Messaging
Explore the common mis-steps and fixes for talking about human rights.
Immigrant Rights
People Move: How to Talk About Immigrant Rights in the US
We must contend with our opposition’s attacks and mobilize Americans to demand action and vote for leaders who will protect our freedoms and implement a fair immigration process that respects all families.
Immigrant Rights Style Guides
Learn how to talk about immigrant rights in the context of today’s toughest political fights.
Advocating for Asylum
Explore findings from research in Australia to fire up the base and persuade the middle.
Justice and Safety
Digital & Messaging Toolkit: We Know What Keeps Us Safe
As the opposition echo chamber continues their “Law and Order” clamour, we recognize the imperative to respond effectively. That requires first and foremost telling our story and not lending airtime, and therefore credence, to their tale.
Restorative Justice and Rethinking Discipline
Messaging guidance to help make the case to fund the programs and resources that make our schools safe for all while eliminating the police presence that directly impedes learning.
Mensaje para el Momento
Como movilizar a nuestras bases y persuadir a los indecisos sobre las protestas y la justicia racial.
Policing, Protest and Racial Injustice
Learn the Do’s and Don’ts of discussing policing and protests while effectively advancing a racial justice agenda.
Unlocked Voices: Messaging To End Mass Incarceration
Multi-faith based messaging guidance for advocates looking to end mass incarceration.
Português
Comunicação Contexto Atualum Guia Para Comunicadores Progressitas
Aprenda os princípios de mensagens persuasivas e mobilizadoras com exemplos de como aplicá-los.
Transportation
How to Talk About Transit in a Way That Inspires: The Transit Messaging Handbook
TransitCenter partnered with ASO Communications in 2023 to develop and test race and class-conscious messages that increase and broaden public support for transit. This handbook is full of communication strategies to help you and your allies win the transit your communities deserve.
Transit Messaging Research And Recommendations
Through two rounds of research, we crafted and tested messaging that could persuade and mobilize community members, both current riders and non-riders, to demand more robust public transit.
Voting and Representation
Libertad de Votar
Guía para hablar sobre derechos de los votantes.
Freedom to Vote
Messaging guidance to pass national election standards and combat state attacks on our freedom to vote.
Fair Districting Messaging Guide
A messaging guide to pressure local lawmakers to draw fair districts, pass federal legislation ensuring every voter and every community has an equal voice and resources, and establish a clear record of community demands.