Economic Justice

People know the economy isn’t working, but not how it should work, or what we need to do to get there. Effective framing can turn passive unease into active support for economic justice.

In the 1980s, the conservative case for lower taxes was framed with a memorable metaphor: “trickle-down” economics. Four decades later, this frame is still with us.

The frames that are in play influence not just how people understand the economy, but the kinds of economic policies they support. If the economy is a pie, we have to slice it up. The topic quickly turns to who gets how much and who loses out. If it’s an invisible hand, best to leave it alone. But, FrameWorks research has found, if it’s a software program—we can see why and how we might reprogram it.

Language and ideas matter for major economic sectors, like housing, or contributors to economic wellbeing, like good neighborhoods and healthy, affordable food.

Explore how to frame a range of economic issues.

Featured Work

Where We Thrive

Neighborhood revitalization is essential to ensuring families of all backgrounds and zip codes can thrive. Too often, however, this work is invisible, devalued, or just misunderstood. It’s time...

Report

Navigating Cultural Mindsets of Race and Place in the United States

The places where we live shape our lives. Structural racism has shaped and continues to shape where and how Americans live.

Report

Framing the Economy

These are times of great danger but also of great possibility. For the first time in decades, there is a sense that the economic consensus is fracturing, that a change must and will come. A space...

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Report

Why aren’t kids a policy priority? The cultural mindsets and attitudes that keep kids off the public agenda

This report focuses on American mindsets about kids and how these mindsets limit the effectiveness of advocacy messaging.

Report

Communicating about Intergenerational Urban Poverty and Race in America: Challenges, Opportunities, and Emerging Recommendations

Emerging and longstanding solutions focused on what each neighborhood needs, crafted in collaboration with the communities that would benefit from those solutions, bring hope and new possibilities...

Announcements

Framing Two-Generation Approaches To Supporting Families

This strategic resource outlines 10 framing shifts to advance two-generation approaches to updating the systems that support family wellbeing.

Announcements

Finding A Frame For Affordable Housing

Rigorous new research and an applied communications playbook offer provocative recommendations for reframing affordable housing.

Frame Testing Recommendations

Piecing It Together: A Communications Playbook for Affordable Housing Advocates

How can we lead more productive public conversations about inclusive housing policy, community development, and affordable housing? This playbook helps us reframe.

Report

Framing Advocacy on Fines and Fees Reform

This Frame Brief offers justice reform advocates guidance on framing the issue of monetary sanctions for the public.

Report

Framing the Economy

These are times of great danger but also of great possibility. For the first time in decades, there is a sense that the economic consensus is fracturing, that a change must and will come. A space...

Announcements

A New Story About Homelessness In The United Kingdom

Homelessness can affect a range of people, with disadvantaged groups at greater risk. Yet most people think it is the inevitable result of poor life choices.

Report

Reframing Homelessness in the United Kingdom

This report lays out an overarching framing strategy to help advocates in the U.K. expand public understanding of homelessness.

Report

How to Talk about Poverty in the United Kingdom

This MessageMemo provides campaigners the evidence and tools needed to make a more powerful case for change.

Report

Reframing Affordable Housing: Findings from Peer Discourse Sessions

FrameWorks researchers observed small-group discussions (peer discourse sessions) to explore how people think about affordable housing - and learn which frames can change minds.

Report

Finding a Better Frame: How to Create More Effective Messages on Homelessness in the United Kingdom

This report explores public thinking about homelessness in the United Kingdom and documents how the issue is framed in advocacy and media materials.