Learning Lab: Narrative Change for Racial Equity 05/06/2025

The stories we tell, the perceptions that take root in our minds, and the clichés we repeat all play a significant role in shaping our worldviews and, ultimately, the policies, practices and systems we support. Together, we can have the narrative power to imagine and bring forth a just, multiracial democracy where we all have what we need to ensure our families and neighbors thrive.

Over the past 60 years, there has been a coordinated, well-resourced effort by people and organizations, who desire to maintain power and wealth for a few, to popularize a set of harmful narratives that foster  fear and division, limit democracy, and institutionalize racial inequities. In recent years, we have witnessed attacks on our bodies, attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools and workplaces, and attacks on our human, civil, and political rights. But, these attacks do not have to determine our fate; we can live in a society where we, along with our neighbors and government institutions, make collective policy decisions, co-create programs to meet community needs, and ensure public policies and programs are implemented effectively and fairly. 

To make our vision of a just, multiracial democracy a reality, we must seed and spread new narratives that show what is possible when we join together to end systemic racism and create a better future for all. We do this, together, by reaching millions of different people, over time, across many voices, and across a variety of mediums.

This is what we call “narrative change”.

Narrative change for racial equity shapes how people think about:

• What race and racism are,
• The role that racism plays in our society,
• How racial inequities have been created and maintained – and by whom,
• What racial progress means for us individually and as a society,
• The role of organizations and communities in confronting and ending racial inequities.

As such, Race Forward is thrilled to offer this training to help build our capacity for narrative change for racial equity. By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Define and adopt shared terms and concepts used in narrative change,
2. Identify and interpret harmful dominant narratives around race,
3. Assess how narrative is an arena of power that historically and politically has been used to both promote racial injustice as well as racial justice,
4. Experiment with new narrative strategies that promote governing for racial justice. 

This interactive training on Narrative Change for Racial Equity is for narrative practitioners, communications strategists and storytellers, equity officers and managers, culture workers and creatives, and anyone else leading and participating in racial equity work who wants to deepen their understanding and skills using narrative change strategies.

FAQ

Zoom Use:

Please note that you will need to be able to access zoom in order to participate in this training. We are unable to accommodate dial-in only participation at this time.

Access Needs

If you are registering for this event and have any access needs (see here for more information on what access needs are), please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/PjFMZA2bYVkJZH6JA We are currently able to offer ASL interpreters and Live Captioning for our training sessions.

Where’s my access link?

If you don’t have access to your Zoom link or encounter problems with registration, we ask that you first check your spam folder. If you cannot find your zoom link please email the BRE team at [email protected]. We try to respond to urgent requests within 24 hours of receipt. For all other requests please allow up to 2 business days to respond.

Scholarships:

We are offer scholarships to grassroots organizers and community organizations. If you need a scholarship please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/82yieAu8cKBgbhbx9

Space:

We have limited space in our virtual training as we believe it is critical for our participants to be able to receive tailored support and coaching throughout the duration of our virtual training session.

Host or Publisher Race Forward