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We gratefully acknowledge St David’s Foundation, for sponsoring this conference.

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NEW: JUST ADDED HAPPY HOUR MEETINGS!�Hang out with us after the conference at 3:15pm for another chance to win some raffle prices by going to the lobby and choosing one of the following sessions:

HealthBuzz Bingo with Sonia Lara from TACHC	HealthE Trivia with Travis Evans from YI	Relax, Recharge, and Retreat: A Self-Care Workshop with Liz from YI

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The Power of Storytelling: Building our Narrative Power

Aurora Harris

Senior Director of Regional Strategy

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Our Story:

School Cafeteria
Policy change for young

people by young people

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Presentation overview

Power

1

Narrative as an Enabler

4

Narrative

2

Dominant

Narratives

3

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What would the perfect health care system look like?

CHAT BOX!

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Source: Grassroots Power Project

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This face of power deals with organized people and organized money.

With clear targets, such as lawmakers, legislatures, corporate boards and CEOs, Wall Street, and sometimes, through the courts. These are the most visible decision-making arenas
Examples: Medicaid Expansion, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, SAG- AFTRA strike

The 1st Dimension of Power: Visible Decision-Making

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Networks of organizations that are

aligned around shared goals, who can shape political agendas

In this situation, power is not just about making decisions, but also about setting the agenda that leads to decisions. The power to shape what gets on the political agenda, or what is kept off, is another, less visible face of power
Example: Political parties, media, and other institutions working together to advance an issue

The 2nd Dimension of Power: Shaping the Political Agenda

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The third face is about the power to shape people’s conscious and unconscious understandings of what is politically possible

Dominant power relations are maintained through the power to shape people’s understanding of the world in ways that prevent them from asking questions or seeing any possibilities for change
The ability to shape how people understand and think about race and identity, about family and gender, about the economy and the market, and about our healthcare system, etc.

The 3rd Dimension: Shaping Narrative

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What happens when we only focus on Dimension 1 and 2?

CHAT BOX!

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If we look only at the way power operates along the 1st and 2nd faces, we will focus on groups that are already in the game
If we look at the 3rd face of power—the power to keep people from seeing themselves as agents of change, or to even believe that change is possible—then non-action and non-participation become much more important problems; for most working people and historically oppressed groups, the experience of being shut out of decision-making processes gets internalized and understood as the “natural state” of things
People shut out from political and economic decision-making have to have spaces in which to come together and share their stories

Overcoming Powerlessness:

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Narrative Change: An Arena of Power

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What is narrative? 5 facets of narrative.

Narrative is a set of stories
Narratives are understood consciously or subconsciously
Narratives are shared by a group of people with a common identity
Narratives shape our attitudes and behaviors about people, places, objects or ideas.
Narratives are established, amplified and reinforced over time through the careful, deliberate curation of narrative tools like stories, language, messengers, and messages.

What is Narrative:

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Story vs. Narrative:

Stories

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Story vs. Narrative:

Stories

Narrative

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Someone worked hard in school and was able to overcome their circumstances

Higher education’s history in many ways is one of perpetuating social inequality by design. But the future of higher education can be a different story.

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The third face is about the power to shape people’s conscious and unconscious understandings of what is politically possible

Let’s look at our campaign/support to add birth control as a fully covered benefit in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

What is the dominant narrative or “common sense” on this issue?
What is the new narrative or “good sense” we could push on this issue?

CHAT BOX!

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Let’s look at our campaign/support to to develop a long range plan to improve health literacy across the state via a study to determine the economic impact of low health literacy on state programs and health coverage.

What is the dominant narrative or “common sense” on this issue?
What is the new narrative or “good sense” we could push on this issue?

CHAT BOX!

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unmasking dominant narratives- People are solely responsible for themselves and what happens to them. • Government is bad or at best inept, and is not a vehicle for making our lives better. • Markets are where people can improve their lives and must be allowed to operate unfettered. • Institutional forms of oppression like structural racism and sexism have been eliminated; all that remains is individual bias.

So, for example, to explain the disproportionate number of black families living in poverty, one narrative might explain that some individuals have simply failed to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. According to this logic, government poverty programs have created dependency and undermined self-reliance. This way of conceptualizing the intersection of poverty and racism ignores structural factors, blames those who live in poverty, and refuses to consider solutions that might address underlying conditions. . It limited the change that policy-makers would consider and constrained the imagination of grassroots leaders.

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Source: Practical Radicals Seven Strategies to Change the World

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Source: Practical Radicals Seven Strategies to Change the World

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Extending Postpartum Medicaid

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Narrative change is one way to catalyze systemic change: changing narratives creates the conditions for- or helps to “enable”- the other changes we seek to influence (like changes in behaviors, policies, and practices)- because they make those changes feel both possible and necessary to addressing the issues we’re working on.

Narrative as an Enabler:

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Narrative Change

+ Policy

Advocacy =

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Our goal is to make the issues in our communities known, so we can make changes.

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Takeaways

Narrative is a collection of stories
The dominant narratives exists for a reason – they shape what is possible
Narrative change is an arena of power
Telling our stories and being explicit about our truths makes more possible

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Staying Engaged

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together.invincible

@younginvincible

@younginvincibles

Join us in action by

Scanning the QR code above. This is a survey you NEED to fill out in order to receive your gift card BUT it will also give you access to YI’s mailing list for future events and actions. You can also follow us on social media at fb.com/together.invincible and @younginvincible on twitter

We will also be hosting a storytelling circle in November to give YOU the opportunity share with us what you think/want to see be done regarding several key topics. Your stories will then help us hear directly from the YOU the people and shape our policy recommendations in the future. As well as Affordable Care Act Events in Houston, Austin, Beaumont and Lufkin. During these events, folks will be able to learn more about health insurance, sign up/register if they are uninsured, get their covid vaccine/booster and enjoy the event!

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Questions?

aurora.harris@younginvincobles.org