Appendix C. Framework for Narrative Change

People are the products of the systems we live in, and our thoughts are shaped by the dominant narratives of society, neither of which we may perceive. We often assume they’re the truth without question. For instance, we buy into the uniquely American narrative of individual responsibility, that we are all, ultimately, masters of our own fate. We’re led to believe that if we succeed, or if we falter, it has more to do with our own actions than the circumstances of our birth, the zip code where we live, or the history of systematic and overt and covert oppression of certain groups, particularly communities of color. This powerful and false narrative is particularly pernicious when it comes to people living in poverty or on low wages—that their life circumstance is somehow linked to an individual moral failing. There is always the “one story,” as former Sacramento mayor Michael Tubbs has said—one miraculous bootstraps-up-out-of-poverty success story, like his own. It is often used as a patronizing and cruel cudgel against those who remain trapped in impoverished situations. In essence, he told us: “See, if this one person, this one unicorn, could do it, why can’t you?”

Over the last 40 years, conservatives and neoliberals have masterfully taken this individual responsibility framing and crafted narratives that public support and public investment are wasteful, all business is good, the market is always right, the wealthy are the job creators, and, if unleashed from mandates to share the wealth, they will do a better job of creating more and sharing the wealth equitably.

This approach, however, has resulted in such high rates of inequality and human misery that it can only be called grotesque. CEOs earn as much as 1,000 times more than the average worker and 53 million people work in jobs that don’t pay a living wage or offer living hours.¹ The United States, alone among advanced economies, fails on every front to support families on critical practices such as equitable paid family leave, paid sick days, and flexible work or child and elder care infrastructure. This approach has enshrined the belief that public investments in federal and state social support and poverty-prevention programs should be offered sparingly, that benefits should be difficult to obtain and keep, and that people who need such “handouts” are weak and need fixing.

So many people living in poverty or on low wages blame themselves for their financial struggles, believe that they aren’t worthy of public support, and doubt that support will actually move them out of poverty. There is often little hope. And though these narratives about individual actions impact all of us, they can be particularly punishing to immigrant families, who can be legally and socially penalized, labeled “public charges” that will be a drain on public resources rather than a boon to society, and their immigration status threatened if they try to use public supports to survive or weather difficult circumstances.

New America’s Better Life Lab team and their collaborators at the New Practice Lab wanted to have real conversations with families living in or near poverty—to work with and learn from them. Doing so requires not only an understanding of how deeply these insidious narratives are ingrained in all of us but also an approach that broadens our perspective on poverty-prevention programs. After all, the current slate of initiatives was constructed on the basis of deeply flawed narratives and beliefs about what economically vulnerable individuals and families need, often excluding the perspectives and voices of those it intends to reach.

To change course, we need to get at human hopes and dreams and hear directly from families about what they say they need. We need to start our inquiry with families, not existing policies, and create a space for families to imagine a new sense of the possible. What do they really need to thrive, not just survive? This human-centric approach became our “north star” as we began the qualitative research for this report. We understand that this reimagination cannot happen if we start with an approach grounded in and limited by current, systematically flawed policies. For example, because many immigrants in the United States are grateful for an opportunity to escape the danger and precarity of their previous homes, they wholeheartedly invest in the idea of the American Dream, which reinforces the narrative of success through individual responsibility and hard work. As a result, questions about their struggles might make them feel guilty and ashamed. How do we frame questions that give diverse families space to see where the system is failing and could be better?

Poet, writer, and revolutionary Black feminist Audre Lorde tells us that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”² In other words, if we want to make deep change in the world, then we need to work in new ways, with new questions, new tools, and new voices.

Working backwards to policy from family-centered learning, a new narrative can emerge, about the kind of economy, the kind of business practices and public policies, and the kind of mindset shift that finally acknowledges the worth and dignity of all humans and has as its goal the well-being, quality of life, and flourishing of all humans.

To operationalize an open, person-centered, “anything is possible” approach that fosters agency, recognizes strength and resilience, and values diverse experiences and languages, New America’s New Practice Lab, as the lead on the focus group phase of this project, consulted with Hilary Cottam, entrepreneur, pioneering social designer, and author of Radical Help. Together, they developed a framework to guide the focus groups and interactive activities.³ Below are guiding questions used in our conversations with families.

• Imagine: What are the elements of a thriving family life? How do families define it?
• Imagine: What would it take to get there?
  • What resources are needed to reach this ideal?
  • How would families design resources and systems of support that enable thriving?
  • What role does culture play?
• Current reality: What are family experiences with the resources offered during the COVID-19 pandemic and the current poverty-prevention programs?
  • In what ways did pandemic investments help families to thrive?⁴
  • What in the current landscape is contributing to family thriving? What’s not?
  • What else would you need, not just to survive, but to be your best, for your family to be at their best?
• Synthesis: What can happen to change the current landscape? And how can these family-centered lessons inform actionable recommendations that point the way toward long-overdue systems and cultural transformations?
  • What are the stories we need to be telling in order to shift from the old narrative frames to newer, truer frames? Did families change their beliefs—about themselves, about government and public policy—as a result of a better functioning safety net? What has changed about how they think of the future for themselves and their families?