The Imperative for Change: Reframing/Reinventing Human Services National Human Services Assembly 2013

By the numbers: 85 The Assembly’s member network (85 members) collectively represents: $61 billion + sector 100,000 + locations 1,140,000 + employees National Human Services Assembly 2013

ENTITLEMENT National Human Services Assembly 2013

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National Human Services Assembly 2013

Giving as a percentage of GDP, (in billions of dollars) National Human Services Assembly 2013 Source: Giving USA 2013 data tables 2%

Are we at a point of inflection? National Human Services Assembly 2013

What is Framing? About framing: It’s normal. Everybody engages in it all the time. Frames are just structures of thought that we use every day. All words in all languages are defined in terms of frame-circuits in the brain. But ultimately, framing is about ideas, about how we see the world, which determines how we act. ~ George Lakoff, Linguist National Human Services Assembly 2013

Elements of Framing VALUES, or goals to re-mind people of what’s at stake or what they already care about that an issue connects to METAPHORS, to place issues in people’s everyday action scenario, enhance their understanding of processes and mechanisms and increase agency NARRATIVE, to override people’s default patterns of expectation about a complex, abstract issue by substituting the expectations of a well known narrative structure

National Human Services Assembly 2013

Changing the Trajectory: Acquiring Public Mindshare Applying the power of neuroscience to change how we talk about human needs/services… And how America thinks about them. National Human Services Assembly 2013

Difficulty of changing frames: Slide used by permission of the Frameworks Institute. National Human Services Assembly 2013

“Myth-and-fact” doesn’t work:  Many people misremembered false statements about the flu in the CDC brochure as true.  Subjects attributed the source of their false beliefs to the CDC.  Denials inherently require repeating the bad information, which may be one reason they can paradoxically reinforce it.  Rather than deny a false claim, it is better to make a completely new assertion that makes no reference to the original myth. Source: Persistence of Myths Could Alter Public Policy Approach, Shankar Vedantam, Washington Post, September 4, 2007 (Slide used by permission of the Frameworks Institute.) National Human Services Assembly 2013

You Say…They Hear You say… We are failing to do right by children and youth. Child poverty, youth homelessness, juvenile delinquency, and other complex challenges threaten the health and well-being of the next generation. Isn’t it time to invest more? They hear…What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Poor kids have to “fight to overcome adversity, which makes them tougher and ultimately more successful. Though, it does help if they have good strong parents behind them, helping them make the right choices. Explanatory Metaphor: The Outcomes Scale National Human Services Assembly 2013

Reframing safety net: National Human Services Assembly 2013

Beliefs we share: Everyone should be a healthy, productive, contributing member of the community Individuals and families should take the maximum responsibility for caring for their own Everyone should have access to opportunity National Human Services Assembly 2013

Frames that resonate:  Prosperity  Health  Connectedness National Human Services Assembly 2013

Reframe human needs/services in a way that resonates with the average citizen. To … From … National Human Services Assembly 2013

Frames can change: National Human Services Assembly 2013

Preliminary frame for human services: National Human Services Assembly 2013

Outcomes: 1.New language, imagery, metaphors 2.Clear industry identity 3.Framework for re-forming human services National Human Services Assembly 2013

Next Steps “Mapping the Gaps” Webinar on Wednesday, September 26 th, 2:00-3:30 Release of the full “Mapping the Gaps” report, October 2013 Resources from the Frameworks Institute Frameworks Institute site Framing eWorkshop Framing 101 toolkit mingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf mingPublicIssuesfinal.pdf National Human Services Assembly 2013

CONTACT US Jarle Crocker Program Manager National Human Services Assembly 2013