American Opportunity: A Communications Toolkit

This toolkit represents the best thinking about how to use the Opportunity Frame from the communications professionals at the SPIN Project, the leaders of The Opportunity Agenda, other communications professionals engaged in defining the Opportunity Frame, and grassroots leaders from across the country working on critically important issues.

Part I contains an introduction to the Opportunity Frame from the leaders of The Opportunity Agenda, a summary of the key findings from their first publication: The State of Opportunity in America report, an essay from Loren Siegel, former Public Education Director of the American Civil Liberties Union and a communications and strategic planning consultant, and an annotated speech by Senator Barack Obama demonstrating a powerful use of the opportunity frame. In Part II, we provide you with the concrete tools you’ll need to start including messages about opportunity in your own work. Finally, Part III examines promising practices in using the Opportunity Frame in specific issue areas.

If you would like a print copy of our toolkit, you can download a PDF version of American Opportunity here. 

In addition to the materials available in the print version of our toolkit, this online version contains articles and case studies available only on the web.  You can download a PDF version of these articles here, or use the table of contents to navigate your way through the toolkit.  Web exclusive material is clearly marked on the home page of each chapter.

We encourage all of our readers to provide feedback on the utility of this toolkit and the Opportunity Frame.  Please write to us with any questions, critiques, or case studies that you think would be helpful in refining this frame and expanding its usefulness in your work.

Table of Contents

Part I - The Opportunity Frame

1. Foreword
2. Overview: The State of Opportunity in America Report
3. Dimensions of Opportunity
4. A Tale of Two (Dueling) Frames
5. Rising Together - Senator Obama at Knox College
6. Talking Opportunity in America
7. Talking About Race

Part II - Opportunity in Your Backyard

1. Strategic Considerations for Using the Opportunity Frame with Target Audiences
2. Additional Talking Points
3. Template Communications Pieces
4. Disrupting the Discourse: Framing at the Intersection of Race and Opportunity
5. Choosing the Faces of Opportunity
6. Capturing News Coverage

Part III - Promising Practices

1. Reframing Reproductive Justice
2. Redemption Song
3. Defending Diverse Voices in the Media
4. Advocates for Environmental Health
5. Illinois Campgaign for Better Healthcare

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