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FrameWorks UK

Framing COVID-19

In this uniquely challenging moment, we need to connect people to the bigger picture. We need ways to explain health, enhance community, and offer hope.

We’ve pulled guidance from twenty years of framing research and practice to help advocates and experts be heard and understood in a time of global crisis. Here, we’ve shared a few ideas that can help us all amplify the values of justice, inclusion, and interdependence.

Framing COVID-19

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Topic #1: Deploying a common good frame

Framing COVID-19 Topic #1: Deploying a common good frame It always matters how we talk to—and about—each other. Effective and inclusive communication is especially important during a time of...
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Topic #2: Making a powerful case for the role of government

Framing COVID-19 Topic #2: Making a powerful case for the role of government To come through this crisis we need governments to act. There are actions that only governments can take—and our...
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Topic #3: Widening the circle of “we”

Framing COVID-19 Topic #3: Widening the circle of "we" To come through this crisis, we need policies and practices that respond to varying—and inequitable—health, social, or economic...
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Topic #4: The power of how during the pandemic

Framing COVID-19 Topic #4: The power of how during the pandemic This moment demands an effective public health response. We need accurate data to predict and prevent severe outbreaks. We need to...
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Topic #5: Nonprofits are essential—especially now

Framing COVID-19 Topic #5: Nonprofits are essential—especially now The US nonprofit sector plays an unparalleled, and irreplaceable, role in our nation and the world. Our work, our expertise,...
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Topic #6: Talking about what comes next

Framing-COVID19 Topic #6: Talking about what comes next The pandemic is reinforcing the urgency of our missions—and surfacing new possibilities for change. Although we're still in the midst of...
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Topic #7: Talking about the importance of prevention

Framing COVID-19 Topic #7: Talking about the importance of prevention There are actions we need to take now to prevent and reduce future harm from the pandemic, but thinking and acting in this...
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Topic #8: Keeping democratic ideals alive during the pandemic

Framing COVID-19 Topic #8: Keeping democratic ideals alive during the pandemic To come through this crisis, we need democracy to work as it should. We need representatives who look ahead and...
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Topic #9: Talking about what young people need during the pandemic

Framing COVID-19 Topic #9: Talking about what young people need during the pandemic Our future depends on whether youth grow, develop, and learn. When we support young people's wellbeing, they...
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Topic #10: Talking about climate action in the era of COVID-19

Framing COVID-19 Topic #10: Talking about climate action in the era of COVID-19 We can't afford to not to have a conversation that connects climate action to the pandemic response. The measures...
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Topic #11: Framing the post-pandemic economy

Framing COVID-19 Topic #11: Framing the post-pandemic economy The pandemic has created an opening to change the public's perspective on what it means to have a good economy—and what role...
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Topic #12: How to foster solidarity while others fuel division

Framing COVID-19 Topic #12: How to foster solidarity while others fuel division The pandemic has demonstrated that we are capable of cooperation at a scale that few of us imagined possible. We...
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Topic #13: Framing for as long as it takes

Framing COVID-19 Topic #13: Framing for as long as it takes Daily events may seem unpredictable right now, but they reflect long-standing issues. Coronavirus is new, but the challenge of...
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Communicating about Climate Change in the time of COVID-19

As climate communicators, we have a long-standing, deep appreciation for a concept that the pandemic has brought into sharp relief: interconnection. This moment calls us to lift up our values,...
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Framing Adolescent Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Even during these uncertain times, it’s a sure thing that adolescents—young people between childhood and adulthood—are still developing biologically, socially, and emotionally. We can also...
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Education is at a Crossroads

For advocates working in education and related fields, COVID-19 has created an opening to talk about long-standing needs.
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Advocating for Age in an Age of Uncertainty: How the COVID-19 crisis is amplifying ageism, and how advocates can push back

It’s clear we need to change the way society thinks and talks about aging, and there’s great opportunity to do it now. In 2014, the FrameWorks Institute launched a study using theory and...
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Here’s How Nonprofits Can Get Americans to Fight the Racism Laid Bare by COVID-19

How can social-change communicators best promote conversations about race and racism in ways that help people understand, and get them to act and support solutions that advance equity? Here are...
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Why were we so late responding to COVID-19? Blame it on our culture and brains

Even though contagious outbreaks have occurred in the past, and despite exhortations from public health experts that they would happen again, we lacked the systems and mindsets to proactively...
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Schools Need Resources to Help Us Get Through This Tough Time

We must re-invest in public health, and also in public education, to see ourselves back to a healthy economy and society.
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Why are we so willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of educators?

Why are so many of us so comfortable asking teachers to work in unsafe conditions at great sacrifice to their own well-being even as they make demands that they return to a safe workplace? Part of...
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Misunderstood: How Public Health’s Inability To Communicate Keeps Communities Unhealthy

It’s not that people are opposed to public health or indifferent to its outcomes, the difficulty is that people don’t know who does this work or how they do it.