| Title | Categories | Date | hf:categories | hf:tags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Arts as a Public Good: Messaging Toolkit This toolkit provides guidance and
sample content that illustrate how
communicators can more
effectively convey the importance
of the arts — including the role of
the arts in helping create strong and
equitable places. The material draws
on communications and framing
best practices as well as ins... | Report | June 3, 2026 | report | featured | |
Communicating Truth Through the Noise Progressive communicators face an increasingly urgent challenge: how to share truthful
messages in a world where truth itself is contested. From the blurring lines between
journalism and opinion to the rise of personalized media bubbles and the rapid spread of
misinformation and disinformation on... | Report | June 3, 2026 | report | featured | |
Reclaiming Control Together Democracy survives when people believe it is theirs. Our task, then, is not only to defend democratic institutions but to make democracy feel real, responsive, and within reach.
Please sign up to be among the first to get updates on this work. | Report | June 3, 2026 | report | featured | |
Centering children and families in Economic Narratives Current discourse treats economic and family concerns as if they belong to separate worlds. Economics are framed around markets, materials, and paid labor; families around moral, emotional, and private life. The result is economic policy that overlooks families—and family policy that misses a pow... | Report | April 9, 2026 | report | featured | |
From Taken Money to Shared Prosperity Extreme wealth and rising costs dominate the headlines, but the story doesn’t have to be zero‑sum. "From 'Taken Money' to Shared Prosperity" explores how to reframe the economy and public money around what we build together.Please sign up to be among the first to get updates on this work. | Report | April 9, 2026 | report | featured | |
Connecting the Dots on Public Money Values like fairness and opportunity are everywhere in advocacy—but without clear explanations, they land like greeting cards, not stories. Connecting the Dots on Public Money digs into why.Please sign up to be among the first to get updates on this work. | Report | April 9, 2026 | report | featured | |
Crisis Comms or Culture Shift? Our public conversations too often lurch from one emergency to the next. In Crisis Comms or Culture Shift? we explore how every flashpoint can become a narrative turning point—and what it takes for communicators to move from managing crises to reshaping culture.Please sign up to be among the firs... | Report | April 9, 2026 | report | featured | |
Making a Case for Taxes Nearly every public policy depends on the ability to fund it. Recognizing the need for a cultural shift in how Americans think about taxes and budgets, Topos has made tax and budget communication central to our work.
Most people see taxes as money taken from them—too high, unfair, and wasted b... | Report | February 27, 2026 | report | featured | |
 | Consider: Who is in control? Topos' friend Donald Cohen of In the Public Interest (ITPI) was interviewed on CNN recently, talking about Trump, Musk, and another ridiculous back-and-forth mud wrestling match at the federal level — this time over Musk’s short-lived threat to decommission a SpaceX program in order to spite (cou... | Issue Insight | June 30, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | Trump Supporters: Don’t Limit Our “Strongman” The No Kings marches made it clear: the anti-Trump movement is surging, while the Administration’s approval ratings keep sinking. As the resistance ramps up to confront ongoing and future abuses, the battle for hearts and minds is more urgent than ever.
Slogans like “No Kings” and “Hands Off” ... | Issue Insight | June 20, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | Why Missouri’s Trump Voters Backed Pro-Worker Policies People don’t make decisions in a vacuum—they’re guided by what Topos calls Cultural Common Sense: those deep-seated, almost invisible beliefs that shape how we see the world and what we think is possible. For years, Topos has worked with Missouri partners to map, challenge, and ultimately shift t... | Issue Insight | May 21, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | How to Talk About Community Impact of a Terminated NEA Project We created this communications tool for your public communication about a recently rescinded or terminated NEA grant. (Of course, you should appeal the NEA decision and there are other materials available for how to write that appeal language.)This guide is based on Topos Partnership research for... | Issue Insight | May 6, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | Talking About Medicaid Right Now Cuts to Medicaid are front and center in the national debate right now. Congressional Democrats held a “Day of Action” for Medicaid this week. Engaging the public to resist the cuts means getting the attention of audiences who might associate the program with “welfare.” Here are several framing ... | Issue Insight | March 21, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | Distressed Voters Election analysts have long talked about low-information voters or low-engagement voters … terms that smack of criticism and even elitism.Yes, it’s easy for some of us to be surprised by what others don’t know or pay attention to. Many Americans seem unaware of, even uninterested in, basic facts ... | Issue Insight | January 24, 2025 | issue-insight | |
 | National Women’s Law Center On the front lines of education, teachers are navigating unprecedented challenges in our public schools. On behalf of the National Women’s Law Center, Topos spoke with 25 teachers across several states, including Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, Wisconsin, where there is an intense effort from ... | Issue Insight | December 18, 2024 | issue-insight | featured |
 | Reclaiming Government For nearly two decades, Topos has been raising the alarm about Americans’ distance from government and working with advocates to reclaim it. Not only have Americans lost confidence in government’s ability to act effectively to solve problems, they no longer see government as representing them. Th... | Case Study | October 15, 2024 | case-study | |
 | Two Narrative Strategies for Engaging on Race Race is centered in all of our work. No matter the issue, race influences how people understand the problem and solution, and people of different backgrounds bring their own perspectives and life experiences to the dialogue.
On a challenge as deeply rooted and complex as racism, multiple strat... | Uncategorized | October 15, 2024 | uncategorized | |
 | Explaining How Things Work Science and evidence-based decision-making have been under assault in recent years. Dueling scientists and propaganda cause confused citizens to opt out of the debate.
A clear, simple understanding of the basic mechanism under debate goes a long way toward building public support for the right... | Case Study | October 15, 2024 | case-study | |
 | Think Big: Abundance in Narrative We often define abundance as a contrast. Abundance is NOT scarcity, NOT austerity, NOT competition for resources. So, then, what IS abundance?
What are some of the core elements behind the term and the idea in narrative? What do these elements look like in practice? What are some of the inhere... | Report | July 22, 2024 | report | |
 | Think Big: Belonging In and To America How do we get to a future America for all of us and for everyone, a nation in which belonging is co-created and power is authentically shared?
Over the last year, Topos Partnership has worked in collaboration with the Bridge Project to conduct original research – including in-depth ethnographi... | Report | February 7, 2024 | report | featured |
 | Tax Justice Case Study #Taxday2023 was a day to celebrate hard fought victories for tax justice in Washington State. Last month, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the state’s capital gains excise tax, passed in the legislature in 2021. An added plus – Washington’s Working Families Tax Credit was finally made a... | Report | February 6, 2024 | report | narrative race values |
 | How Democrats Can Beat Republicans on the Economy Strategists are bewildered at poll results that consistently show voters rating Republicans better on the economy than Democrats. The Biden administration has advanced multiple progressive economic policies and several current economic indicators are strong. And yet, the Democratic disadvantage o... | Report | February 6, 2024 | report | abundance anti-austerity narrative |
 | Acting On Our Values is Good Economics Progressive economic policies that focus on people’s wellbeing can hit a brick wall (or at least a sturdy parapet) constructed by the current cultural common sense – the pervasive, default perspectives that shape our thinking in deep, often unconscious ways – about the economy.
The dominant mo... | Issue Insight | October 9, 2023 | issue-insight | |
 | Think Big: Help Co-Create a Research Agenda! We are excited to see many of you this Thursday, 10/27 at 3pm ET at our October Learning Community meeting on Democracy and the Will of the People. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to register!
In addition to hearing from a set of fantastic speakers, we’ll also start the conversation about... | Annoucement | May 2, 2023 | annoucement | |
 | New Yorkers on the Economy Our September 2022 survey finds that the vast majority of New Yorkers want government to do more to solve problems and to improve people’s quality of life. They see a state government that works on behalf of the wealthy and corporations, not “people like me.” More than 7 in 10 believe the economi... | Issue Insight | April 6, 2023 | issue-insight | |
 | What do we mean when we say “Think Big”? Think Big grew out of a big idea. Progressive advocates, organizers, and funders who came together to talk about communications strategies to challenge austerity thinking in the face of an economic shutdown, voiced the need for a space to collaborate and share high-level strategic thinking and pr... | Annoucement | October 25, 2022 | annoucement | |
 | Think Big October Meeting Come join our learning community as we Think Big about the Will of the People in this election and beyond. | Annoucement | October 25, 2022 | annoucement | |
 | Centering Race, Centering Government What role, if any, do Americans see for the government in advancing racial equity?
To answer that question, Topos, in partnership with the Othering and Belonging Institute, and with the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, undertook an extensive, multi-m... | Report | October 20, 2022 | report | |
 | An Economy Measured by How People are Doing The Biden Administration has a new and better definition of what “the economy” is and should be.
“My life’s work has been centered on ensuring our families and work are properly valued within our economy.
I’m excited to bring that perspective as a CEA member. We have an opportunity to rethink h... | Issue Insight | October 11, 2022 | issue-insight | |
 | Anti-Corruption Campaign Messaging Why is it that accusations of corruption do not seem to stick to Donald Trump?
Years of research by the Topos Partnership point to two dynamics that interfere with the public’s willingness to hold Donald Trump to account for corrupt acts.
It’s all corrupt.
The first dynamic has to do with th... | Issue Insight | September 29, 2022 | issue-insight | |
 | Trayvon Martin’s Death and the Media Dialogue The tragic death of Trayvon Martin is sparking a much-needed dialogue about racism and the plight of black men, and commentators are turning to recent reports by the Topos Partnership for the Opportunity Agenda to help make the point. In the Huffington Post, Duke University Professor Mark Anthon... | Report | September 21, 2020 | report | |
 | Values vs. Explanations in Advocacy Issues & Values
Progressive advocates increasingly accept what Conservatives have long recognized – that issue advocacy is often a competition between opposing value systems. Following on Thomas Kuhn’s groundbreaking work on paradigms, George Lakoff’s influential Moral Politics, for example,... | Issue Insight | June 14, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Focus on Personal Stories Close Up vs. Big Picture Stories: The Role of Individual Examples in Advocacy Communications
Research and real-life experience, plus perspectives from the social and cognitive sciences, tell us that “putting the face on the story” can often backfire. In this memo, we explore the reasons why this... | Issue Insight | June 6, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | What Change Looks Like Adding solutions to the protest narrative: This time the momentum feels real and change seems possible. For the uprising to result in significant change, it is critical that the narrative continue the conversation on the breadth and depth of the problem, while adding concrete solutions.
Read the... | Issue Insight | June 2, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | What Must Be Heard – It’s About More than Police Violence What hasn’t been heard? Obstacles as well as contributions — ideas that combat stereotypes and lead to lasting change. Yes, the national protests are about the murder of #GeorgeFloyd #ICantBreathe, but as many have pointed out, they are also about much, much more.
Read the article on Medium.com | Issue Insight | May 21, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Supplanting Trickle-Down Economics Topos’ new mental model for how the economy actually works, is providing advocates with the tool they need to win progressive economic policies.
While Americans reject the phrase “trickle-down economics,” our research shows the way they think about the flow of money in the economy has continued ... | Report | May 15, 2020 | report | |
 | Two Narrative Strategies for Engaging on Race As daunting as the challenges are, committed communicators across the country are working hard to address racism in order to create progress. A number of researchers, scholars and practitioners around the country have done great work identifying helpful strategies for different objectives. To thi... | Issue Insight | May 14, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Empowering Perspectives An interesting tweet caught our attention:
“If we view ourselves as besieged victims who need to go into hiding, then we will cultivate fear and hoarding. If we view ourselves as a community working hard to protect the most vulnerable among us, then we will cultivate courage and helping. Mindset... | Best Practices | May 5, 2020 | best-practices | |
 | The People Must Be Heard “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
Martin Luther King, The Other America
The unconscionable murder of George Floyd, quick on the heels of the vigilante murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the police killing of a sleeping Breonna Taylor, are creating an uprising of Americans seeking to be heard... | Issue Insight | April 22, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Defeating Privatization Efforts Topos’ recommended approach is the leading strategy for anti-privatization advocates, resulting in scores of wins.
Our investigation determined that the existing cultural common sense advantages those who seek to expand privatization of public services and structures. The CCS says:
Privat... | Issue Insight | April 20, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Making the Case for Federal Aid to the States House Democrats’ HEROES Act proposal puts state fiscal relief in the spotlight. This document is intended to serve as a brief primer on how to make the case for federal aid. We are grateful to our friends at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities for providing expertise and insights to inform... | Issue Insight | April 3, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Critiquing Without Undermining It’s hard to govern when you come from a perspective that you think government is bad, when you think that the federal government is superfluous, when you think that it is not necessary, when you think that…the only necessity it provides is to keep your taxes low…Who is going to implement, who im... | Issue Insight | April 2, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Will COVID-19 Kill Trickle-Down Economics? Trickle down…Bootstraps…these flawed mental models of the economy – most often used by those speaking from a conservative point of view – might, at long last, show signs of weakness, providing an opening for progressive models of the economy. Communicators can use this quick review of economic mo... | Issue Insight | March 26, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Framing Science Brief 1: Negating Doesn’t – The Downsides of Refutation Many communicators have been advised to avoid repeating opponents’ arguments.
They have also been advised to knock down false or misleading claims rather than let them stand.
So is there any evidence one way or the other to help us decide which communications approach is more effective?
... | Issue Insight | March 20, 2020 | issue-insight | |
 | Health Policy Lesson: Manage the Inevitable Eat healthy. Exercise. Wash your hands.
We have learned a lot of lessons about health and healthcare, and are learning new lessons now from the current crisis. But many of these lessons still feed into the deeply entrenched American assumption that health outcomes are all about the decisions w... | Case Study | October 1, 2019 | case-study | |
 | How to Talk About Saving the NEA Advocates are speaking up—Is anyone listening?
Update: The President’s budget includes elimination of the NEA and NEH.
In recent weeks, we’ve read many reports that the administration and/or Congress might eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. Arts advocates and administrators have ... | Best Practices | March 27, 2019 | best-practices | framing framing-resources framing-science issue-brief resource |
 | Lessons from Fast Food Strikes In April 2015, tens of thousands of workers, in well over 200 U.S. cities and in 40 nations, rallied for higher wages and benefits. This growing movement is getting attention and having an impact, providing lessons for communicators.
The most effective communicators on this issue are Making it ... | Best Practices | May 14, 2018 | best-practices | framing framing-resources framing-science issue-brief resource |
 | Framing Job Quality as Common Sense Scheduling, Paid Leave, and More
The Topos Partnership, based on a significant, multi-method research effort, has arrived at a powerful strategy to lift public understanding for a range of job quality policies (The Ford Foundation provided support for this research). The simple common sense idea... | Case Study | March 15, 2017 | case-study | arts national-endowment-for-the-arts nea |
 | The Tipping Point on Minimum Wage With Walmart’s recent announcement lifting employees’ base pay to at least $10 per hour, similar news from other employers, and the successful sweep of minimum wage and paid sick leave campaigns all across the nation in 2014, are we seeing a tipping point in how people view measures to increase j... | Case Study | May 29, 2015 | case-study | economy-boosting-jobs job-quality minimum-wage topos-partnership |
 | Economy Boosting Jobs + Raising Minimum Wage Communicating to Increase the Minimum Wage
Efforts to build support for increasing the minimum wage have had several recent successes, leading to new state and local policies across the country. Now the federal debate over increasing the national minimum is heating up. This is an opportune momen... | Issue Insight | March 17, 2015 | issue-insight | economy-boosting job-quality jobs minimum-wage walmart |
 | Labor Day Boost Happy Labor Day! Celebrate economy-boosting jobs with our new video.
This “Simply-Put” video provides a brief illustration of how to make the core points emerging from newly released Topos research on communicating job quality, including minimum wage and paid sick days. We expect this video wi... | Best Practices | June 11, 2014 | best-practices | boost-or-bust inequality job-quality minimum-wage poverty strategic-communications topos-partnership |
 | The Power and Pitfalls of Talking Inequality A new Congressional Budget Office paper reviewing income inequality concludes that the pattern of increasing inequality will continue for years to come — unless we decide to make some policy shifts or there is some other major economic change.
Many advocates will be inclined to reference inequal... | Report | January 23, 2014 | report | minimum-wage |
 | The Half the Oil Plan Topos is proud to be working with the Union of Concerned Scientists on how best to communicate their Half the Oil Plan – an initiative to cut projected US oil usage in half in twenty years.
Last month, Joe Grady of Topos spoke at their Board Meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts to lay out in de... | Issue Insight | August 26, 2013 | issue-insight | job-quality labor-day simply-put topos-partnership video |
 | The Arts as a Public Good Topos strategic paradigm shift for the arts focuses on how to shift people’s thinking about the arts from a private good to a public good.
Our research finds that according to the Cultural Common Sense “the arts” is an elite pursuit, a luxury, that should be paid for through ticket prices (as ... | Annoucement, Privatization | May 22, 2013 | annoucement privatization resources | |
 | Protecting Public Water: A Public Will Initiative Case Study “Privatization of our water systems is a threat to democracy and the common good. Topos Partnership understands that and created tools for advocates to fight off attempts by private interests to take control of our water and to advance the larger ideals and values of the public good.”
~ Donald... | Best Practices | February 26, 2013 | best-practices | |
 | Lead, Crime, and Politics In a recent cover article for Mother Jones, Kevin Drum tells a fascinating story about how researchers have uncovered a surprising connection: The sharp increase in violent crime in post-war America, and the sharp decline since the 1990s, may be largely due to one surprising factor – leaded vs. u... | Issue Insight | February 15, 2013 | issue-insight | behind-the-kitchen-door job-quality minimum-wage saru-jayaraman |
 | Beyond Winning – Change the Culture Q: When is a “win” not a win?
A: When it makes future wins harder.
Fighting the culture
When we at Topos are asked what distinguishes our approach from the various communications strategy and research groups around the country, the answer is simple: We focus on creating tools that change th... | Uncategorized | January 8, 2013 | uncategorized | framing-resources nonprofits reframing |
 | The Explanation Gap Informed citizens are the foundation of effective democracy, but informing citizens depends on providing the context for issues that most mass media neglect; that’s where nonprofits come in. Read the whole report. | Issue Insight | January 7, 2013 | issue-insight | kevin-drum changing-the-frame lead lead-crime lead-poisoning role-of-government |
 | Topos Around the World Topos is going global. Co-founder Joe Grady, an internationally recognized expert on metaphor, just returned from a lecture tour in Japan, including a presentation on metaphor and the public interest at Keio University, a lecture on scientific explanation at a food systems workshop at the Tokyo U... | Issue Insight | December 6, 2012 | issue-insight | |
 | Making a Case for Taxes Fundamental to every public policy is the ability to fund that policy. And yet, issue advocates typically avoid communicating about taxes and budgets, leaving that challenging work to budget policy experts. Recognizing the need for a broad and ongoing culture shift that breaks out of issue silos,... | Issue Insight | October 19, 2012 | issue-insight | |
 | Team Topos Tweets the #Debates Our real time reactions to the candidates’ framing and communicating of the issues. Read from the bottom to the top. Tweet your reactions to us @TeamTopos! | Annoucement | October 4, 2012 | annoucement | campaign-2012 debates job-quality |
 | Debate Season: The Olympics of Framing We’re excited about debate season! Yes, we’re political and policy communication nerds — and this is like the Olympics of framing.
Kennedy and Nixon Debate 1960
This year’s debates are sure to offer some great lessons in contrasting frames. In fact, the winner of any debate... | Annoucement | October 2, 2012 | annoucement | debate framing obama romney strategic-communications |
 | Responding to the “Job Killer” Allegation Everyone knows the simple rule about repetition being key to changing public understanding. Here’s a new finding about the framing of government policy that researchers and advocates need to consider: The number of news stories using the phrase “job killer” about a policy idea increased signifi... | Report | June 18, 2012 | report | changing-the-frame job-killer role-of-government topos-partnership |
 | Topos on Framing Topos’ unique and innovative approach synthesizes expertise from the cognitive and social sciences as well as public opinion. Most of the insights and examples in this post emerged from the research Topos principals have conducted for a wide range of organizations over the past 10 or more years.
... | Best Practices | May 24, 2012 | best-practices | changing-the-frame framing framing-science |
 | Voting Rights: Full Participation Voting rights advocates are moving quickly to advance a range of reforms that will protect and improve voting rights in light of COVID-19. As the specific policy agenda is taking shape, Topos research provides guidance in how to think about the narrative challenge. While the pandemic should be re... | Best Practices | May 24, 2012 | best-practices | |
 | Reframing Privatization Schemes Topos is often invited to share our work on reframing privatization with groups that are on the front lines of countering efforts to shift public assets and public responsibilities to private companies.
Topos has found that when the topic of privatization is framed simply as an issue of cost e... | Report | May 19, 2012 | report | |
 | Talking About Talking About Poverty Writing in The Nation, reporter Greg Kaufmann updates readers on the national campaign to include discussion of poverty policy in the Presidential debates. He interviewed Topos Senior Fellow Margy Waller about reframing the public dialogue.
Waller said research suggests that the way we usually t... | Report | March 22, 2012 | report | |
 | Strategies for Debt Ceiling Talk and a Deficit of Understanding From House Speaker Boehner’s warnings about the next debt ceiling debate to Mitt Romney’s addition of a debt clock prop to his campaign events, conservatives have signaled that they intend to make the federal deficit and government spending the focus of their economic message.
In this short st... | Annoucement | March 6, 2012 | annoucement | |
 | The Arts Ripple Effect The arts thrive best with broad public support, but for that to happen people have to see the arts as a public good – as more than just individual expressions and performances to be consumed. The problem is that earlier narratives, which placed special value on art as a mark of civilization and c... | Report | September 2, 2011 | report | arts arts-advocacy arts-ripple-effect ripple-report |
