The Amp

As a growing number of COVID-19 cases are identified across the United States, we have become conscious of public health recommendations: wash your hands, stay home if you are sick, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Equally important, however, is stepping up our advocacy for communities and individuals most vulnerable – not just those with underlying health conditions, but communities of color, immigrant communities, incarcerated communities, and low-income communities. That starts by being conscious about our language and messaging. Read our tips on how to base your coronavirus messaging around inclusion, empowerment, and justice.

• Messaging and communications tools: 
  • The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Coronavirus and 10 Lessons for Talking About Race; 
  • America’s Voice: Not a Time to Play Politics and “Blame the Immigrants”; 
  • Talk Poverty: Restaurant Workers and Paid Sick Leave;
  • Family Values at Work: Paid Sick Days for Public Health Emergencies and Personal Family Care Act;
  • Messaging Example, New York Times Editorial Board: We Are Ignoring One Obvious Way to Fight the Coronavirus.
• Hashtags: #paidleaveforall; #healthequity; #paidfamilyleave

Below is a list of this week's communication hooks as well as events that you can use to reach new audiences and inform existing ones. Click on each link for messaging tools and hashtags.

Events and Cultural Hooks:

• Women's History Month 2020: Valiant Women of the Vote: March 1-31
• DACA #HomeIsHere month of action: March 1-31
• 400 Years of Inequality symposium: Friday, March 13 
• Deadline to comment on new HUD rule that would weaken fair housing enforcement: Monday, March 16 
• St. Patrick's Day: Tuesday, March 17
• 2020 Census Begins: March 12-20 
  • Campaign to suspend immigration enforcement during the 2020 census
  • Count All Kids Day: March 18
• International Day of Happiness: Friday, March 20
• People's State of the Union: March 20 - April 20
• International Day for the Elimination of Racism: Saturday, March 21
• World Water Day: Sunday, March 22

Historical Anniversaries: 

• Bread and Roses strikers win: March 12, 1912  
• Protest demanding Americans with Disabilities Act passage: March 14, 1991
• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's birthday: March 15, 1933
• Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin's birthday: Tuesday, March 17
• Public Defense Day commemorating Gideon v. Wainwright: Wednesday, March 18
• Eight Hour Act upheld by the Supreme Court (1917): Thursday, March 19