Asset-Framing in a Time of Crisis

About

Learn about the power of narrative frames and how to use that power in this time of crisis. This workshop explores a new way to think and talk about constituents and community. It will encourage us to think differently about our neighbors and work in a Bay Area that has shown great potential for this kind of cultural change. However, many of us are not schooled in Asset-Framing and, as a result, unintentionally contribute to negative frames and images of the people we are interested in supporting and, in turn, make systemic change more difficult to achieve.

Leading the trainings is Trabian Shorters, an innovative thought leader who trains changemakers on the application of breakthroughs in cognition, decision-making, and framing to engender greater engagement, equity and impact across race. He calls this practice "Asset-Framing." Moving away from focusing on communities’ challenges and deficits, Shorters’ approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and impact is based on communities’ stories, aspirations and contributions.

In a time of crisis like this one, Trabian poses that three groups always arise: Builders, Fixers and Exploiters. Fixers are those most concerned with ensuring survival and restoring status quo. Exploiters use fear and desperation to advance self-serving agendas. Builders are those most concerned with thinking about how to use the current devastation as a way to build new systems interrupted by the crisis. As people look to their authority sources to determine what level of concern they should have, we can set a tone, share solutions, communicate and engage audiences in both fixing and building our systems, as well as discrediting exploiters.