#RADCOMMS17 UNCONVENING

ABOUT THE RADICAL COMMUNICATORS NETWORK & THE INAUGURAL UNCONVENING

The Radical Communicators Network (RadComms) is creating new strategies and collaborations for social change communications.

The Network began as a call to action by communications strategist, Shanelle Matthews and was met by more than 100 communications professionals the day after the 2016 election. Since then it has grown quickly -- out of a desire for both a change in national political conversations and for more connection and coordination among progressive movements. Through this network, we have generated bold ideas about the future of communications that we believe can transform progressive social movements potential for winning.

The Network is comprised of more than 400 communications staff, strategists, digital professionals, politicos, earned media coaches, researchers and behavior change scientists -- all committed to using innovation and collaboration to change the way Americans think about, discuss, and act on progressive social issues like immigration, welfare reform, reproductive justice, etc.. From high-level marketing to digital engagement, from compelling storytelling in the media to training the next generation of grassroots spokespeople, this network is composed of results-oriented strategists with an eye toward collaboration and winning.

From November 30 to December 3, 2017, our Network hosted its first gathering in San Diego, CA. Ninety members, roughly one third of our membership at the time of registration, attended #RadComms17. Members gathered for the first time in an Unconvening1 to strengthen the network, spark new collaborations, and bolster new ideas and strategies. We used a combination of self-organized meetings, trainings, panels, workshops, and an emphasis on innovation labs to build powerful relationships and lay the ground for ground-breaking initiatives.

One of the fantastic potentials of this network is that it’s organic and driven by people in the field and not tied to any individual or organizational brand. We want to advance our entire field in recognition of the crucial role communications makes in all of our movements to be more strategic and to scale our impact across progressive areas of focus.

In the pages that follow, you’ll see a brief snapshot of Network collaborations and #RadComms17 conversations that will help us shift narrative strategies that tear down barriers to empathy and understanding and build radical and progressive voices in communities, legislatures, and executives offices.

1 We called it an Unconvening for two reasons: 1. Every session was self-organized by people from within our network so there were no outside facilitators or speakers; 2. We kept some of the large group sessions open so we could generatively develop the agenda based on what happened the day before.

THE RADCOMMS NETWORK CREATES NEW NARRATIVES

We know narratives have the power to open new political possibilities. Donald Trump deployed an effective narrative during the 2016 presidential election that has cleared space for a radical right-wing agenda. That narrative is fueling the Wall Street takeover of our government, fanning the flames of white supremacy, and advancing a xenophobic and nationalistic worldview. To better understand the power of the Trump narrative and construct our own more powerful one, RadComms first undertook an analysis that examines the elements of the opposition and the status quo, while providing suggestions for how we can use our messaging to make our narrative resonate more effectively with the communities in which we work.

RadComms members are driving narrative and messaging strategies that encourage people to see all of their neighbors as integral members of their communities, deserving of love, respect, and opportunity. Together, we will drive bold conversations about issues like race, transgender liberation, wealth distribution, and immigration.

The #RadComms17 UnConvening featured sessions designed to develop and promote narratives about some of these most pressing progressive concerns:

DISRUPTING THE LAW & ORDER NARRATIVE: RECLAIMING SAFETY FOR OURSELVES We need a narrative that focuses on what safety means to our communities: connection, trust, joy, hope, and abundance. We can shift the narrative of safety from one of fear, policing, and prisons to one of community and humanity, from protection to presence. Together, we brainstormed about what safety actually is to us, and how we can use media strategies to intervene in fear-based conversations and drive a new conversation about what makes us truly safe.

Session organizers: Daisy Vieyra & Zaineb Mohammed

HOW TO LOOK BEYOND LEGISLATIVE FIXES IN TRUMP’S AMERICA: DECONSTRUCTING THE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS NARRATIVE As we navigate the post-DACA waters, and calls for a clean DREAM Act dominate immigration movement efforts, we need to lift our heads from the sand and explore the ways in which we can craft narratives that go beyond calls for federal legislation. How do immigration advocates promote narratives create (or hinder) dignity and respect for all immigrants, their families, and communities? During this conversation, we generated ideas about how immigration narratives can promote empowerment and cultural change rather than protection and policies.

Session organizers: Anna Castro & Marzena Zukowska

FUTURE OVER FEAR: TALKING SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN THE AGE OF TRUMP Radical Communicators lead the way in developing affirmative, solution-focused strategies to tell the stories of our communities, launch new voices into the discourse, and inspire our movements to move forward. Doing this in the Trump era has become increasingly difficult as we find ourselves often on the defensive, reacting to the latest tweetstorm, absurd policy announcement, and attacks on our communities. This session shared fresh messaging research about the affirmative story we can tell to influence voters who may feel conflicted about our vision and values.

Session organizers: Julie Fisher-Rowe, Jamila Brown & Lucy Odigie-Turley

EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE: RESISTING SCARCITY IN MOVEMENT MESSAGING Our oppressors want us to believe there isn’t enough of anything to go around. In our hearts we know that is not true, but in our messaging we too often reinforce the idea that there are either/or choices we need to make that favor resources and respect for some over others. Instead, how can we recenter values in conversations driven by numbers? This discussion group developed alternative messages for issues that are currently framed as binary choices or either/or, and imagined next steps for moving our movements away from scarcity messaging and towards abundant thinking and language.

Session organizer: Amanda Cooper

CLIMATE JUSTICE: BUILDING A MESSAGING FRAMEWORK FOR A JUST RECOVERY AND STRONG, RESILIENT, POWERFUL COMMUNITIES From hurricanes to wildfires, this year’s extreme weather events left people all over the country struggling to get food, clean water, power, shelter, and medicine. This moment requires a new political approach, a new messaging approach, and a renewed commitment to rebuilding our communities stronger and more resilient than ever before. In this discussion, we asked how to shift the story of climate change from being about weather to being about the people most affected. We brainstormed new stories that focus on the needs of immigrants, low-income folks, workers, and people of color and explored how many progressive movements can collaborate for climate justice in ways that develop resilience, justice, and community power.

Session organizers: Ricky Junquera, Marla Wilson & Shana DeClerq

THE RADCOMMS NETWORK CREATES NEW STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE COMMUNICATIONS

RadComms members know that new media and communications tools are needed to amplify the voices in our communities that have been...least listened to? Or pushed out to the fringes (I don’t like using the term marginalized), while encouraging Americans to engage one another with fairness and integrity. The #RadComms17 Unconvening featured sessions to brainstorm and create new approaches for communications and campaigns.

F*CK FACEBOOK? CHALLENGING TECH COMPANIES AND PROPAGANDA IN THE 2018 ELECTION Social media is one of the most important and powerful methods to disseminate information and news, but the dominant platforms of Facebook and Twitter are showing us they are willing to sell out democracy for profits. Many of these platforms force you to “pay to play” and invest thousands of dollars to run ads in order to filter through algorithms and make an impact. This session explored how we combat this well-funded misinformation, and how progressive movements can find alternative places to organize and commune online.

Session organizers: Meena Hussain & Janna Zinzi

NEW MEDIA FOR THE NEXT SYSTEM: HOW DO WE BUILD A FULLY REPRESENTATIVE SUSTAINABLE NEW MEDIA ECOSYSTEM NEEDED TO WIN IN THIS MOMENT? All across the U.S. and the world, people are building solutions and experimenting with new ways to meet their communities’ needs -- but these stories are not being reported. Who is going to tell these stories? The pluralist, just, trans-local economy we know is possible is going to need new media *and radical communicators to cultivate a new mass media landscape and spread seeds of collective imagination through stories. If we’re going to shift the culture, we need media that’s invested in that shift. During this session, we discussed new media strategies, new data about the reach of alternative outlets, and explored how we can reinvent local hub news organizing.

Session organizers: Natalia Linares, Eli Feghali & Manolia Charlotin

At #RadComms17, members also presented six Ignite talks and followed them with small group discussions. They included:

Debyani Kar: Organizing our FamiliesJess Pace: The Role of Communications in Civic Engagement/electoral Justice Joseph Phelan: Training the Next Generation of Radical Communicators Bia Jackson: Messaging/Communicating in the SouthNadia Ben-Youssef: Communicating the Long-game and Keeping People Engaged Fresco Steez: Design for Radical Social Movements

THE RADCOMMS NETWORK SHARES SKILLS TO DRIVE SOCIAL CHANGE

During the #RadComms17 Unconvening, we taught each other skills to leverage communications as a key tool in creating a more just and equitable society for all Americans.

MARKETING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: WHY WE NEED TO THINK LIKE COKE Changing behaviors for the betterment of society and the individual is the cornerstone of social marketing. To drive radical change, we need to incorporate lessons learned from more than five decades of social marketing research and practice. This session offered planning processes used in social marketing, tips for defining and segmenting priority audiences. We discussed the “4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, promotion), and applied them to our efforts to create radical social and cultural change.

Session organizers: Shelly Spoeth

DECOLONIZED STORYTELLING LAB As communications strategists, we are often tasked with telling or sharing stories that are not our own. How do we ensure the process and practice of storytelling does not unwittingly promote distorted dominant narratives or harmful power dynamics? This interactive lab explored what it means to be an ethical storyteller and to have our work as listeners and crafters of story align with our values around equity, dignity and justice. Together, we planned how we can decolonize our movements’ stories and promote authentic, empowering stories.

Session organizers: Naomi Abraham & Debayani Kar

MORE THAN A COMMS WORKSHOP: CREATING CHANGE, GROWTH, AND HEALING IN FACILITATED SPACES On the surface, communications workshops and trainings are about a specific set of skills. But they also provide an opportunity to surface unconscious biases, inspire personal growth, and heal from trauma. How do we infuse communications skills with the conversations needed to address oppression? How do we use facilitated spaces about communications to also create our liberation? This discussion group share facilitation and agenda-planning tips to create connection, generate healing, promote social change -- all while teaching the skills people signed up to learn.

Session organizer: Ryan Schwartz

THE RADCOMMS NETWORK SPARKS NEW COLLABORATIONS

In just a year, this group has rapidly become a source of critical inquiry and analysis of the practice of progressive communications and— most impressively — mutual aid. There have been several occasions where network members have put out the call for colleagues to amplify ideas on their own platforms and/or lend their time and talents to a project and it happens.

For example, in February 2017, the Network collaborated together on a series of toolkits for the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Inundated with requests, BLM’s staff asked RadComms to organize a series of toolkits that discussed the life and death of Trayvon Martin on the fifth anniversary of his murder. Enthusiastically, RadComms members stepped up and developed two toolkits: one for Black and non-Black people of color which we translated into Spanish and one for white people. In addition to message development, the team built online toolkits for multiple audiences, translated collateral into Spanish, and executed a thorough distribution strategy. The goal of these toolkits is to encourage people to have honest and hard conversation about systems of racism that lead to the untimely and unavenged deaths of Black people in the United States. Network members have since stepped up to collaborate on other projects including an open letter to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe after Charlottesville addressing the nature of white supremacy and media help to organizers of the March to End Police Brutality in Dallas.

Collaboration of this nature within the movement communications sector was previously nascent as limited resources and lack of formal networks limited innovation among radical communications professionals of all levels and areas of expertise. During the 2017 Unconvening, we took time to put our heads and hearts together to advance new collaborations:

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC: A CULTURAL STRATEGY FOR RECLAIMING AND IMPROVING WHAT’S OURS Schools, libraries, parks, information: our common resources. To energize new storytelling about what our public resources mean to us, Active Voice Lab is creating The Future of Public, a series of locally-designed, public-facing events that includes screenings, comedy, story slams, interactive media, strategy sessions and more. In this session, we explored how we can mobilize storytellers to share their personal connections to public resources, and how they are supposed to work for everyone, regardless of how much money they have, where they live, the color of their skin, or the values they hold.

Session organizer: Ellen Schneider

HOW CAN WE USE FILM AND VIDEO TO BUILD THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF OUR MOVEMENTS? In parallel to the formation of RadComms, a group of movement-based videographers in the US and Canada have been connecting to:

Support and grow video and filmmaking work that is grounded in movement-based organizing values and strategy;

Facilitate training and skills development for frontline community members to move into the role of doing impactful videography and filmmaking for their own communities;

Facilitate long-term pairing and projects between videographers and social movement organizations to develop sustained issue-based narrative campaigns;

Enable rapid response videography support for frontline communities in the wake of emerging attacks and opportunities; and

Pro-actively advance cross-movement filmmaking projects that leverage the power of video and film to amplify movement messages and shift public discourse. This conversation explored the potential and possibilities for growing, coordinating, and sharing resources for strategic movement-based videography and filmmaking work - both inside and beyond RadComms.

Session organizers: Zoë Levitt & Spencer Mann

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THE RADCOMMS NETWORK MEMBERS BUILD FOR THE FUTURE

As a young and growing network, we used the 2017 Unconvening to come together in person to discuss the growth and structure of the network. We will use digital tools to include network members who could not attend the convening in future conversations about our:

VALUES: What does it mean to be radical? What is our vision of liberation, both for our communities and the way our movements use communications? We brainstormed an initial list of values to consider, some of which are: A belief that all bodies should be nourished, free, respected, and allowed to grow and change; dreaming and imagination; flipping the table, not just getting a seat at it; art and creativity; and a commitment to explore our biases, privileges, power.

PROGRAMMING: How do we sustain our work? What are our responsibilities and hopes for our movements? What capacity does this network have? We discussed the need for guidelines about how members can self-organize within RadComms, and proposed ideas for rapid response coordination, resource and list sharing, and how to create a minimal elegant structure.

MEMBERSHIP GROWTH AND SECURITY: Do we want to grow the network, and how? How do we moderate ourselves, and how do we keep the network a safe space for its members? We discussed ideas for vetting members and creating a cooperative security model, as well as for sharing concerns if a member’s actions are not in line with the values of the network.

2018 UNCONVENING: Should we have one? And if so, where, when, and how? We brainstormed the possibility of hosting several regional gatherings focused on strategy development to build towards the 2020 elections.

The Radical Communicators Network continues to evolve into a strong, field-wide community of practice for progressive communicators. In a little more than a year, this group has rapidly become a source of critical inquiry and analysis of the practice of progressive communications and— most impressively — mutual aid.

The work of RadComms is crucial to building trust with the new American electorate, supporting movement leaders, and keeping media decision-makers honest and accountable. Besieged by a landscape in which “fake news” and “alternative facts” have fomented suspicion and willful ignorance among a large sector of our population, we are aiming to back up our work with thoughtfulness and critical attention to the true forces that keep us divided. To ensure a fair and just democracy, it is imperative that we carefully craft messages that are inclusive and expansive, express dissent with clear, fact-based arguments, and persuade people to engage beyond what is comfortable and convenient.

IMPACT OF #RADCOMMS17 UNCONVENING

In addition to more than a dozen independent communications strategists, participants from the following organizations attended the inaugural Unconvening:

Access Reproductive Care -- SoutheastACLU of CaliforniaActive Voice LabAdalah Justice ProjectAlliance of Californians for Community EmpowermentAmnesty International USAAnti-Oppression Resource & Training AllianceAudacious CommunicationsBay RisingBeautiful SolutionsBlack Lives MatterBlackbird/M4BLBurnessBYP100California CallsCenter for Advancing Innovative PolicyCenter for Environmental HealthCenter for Story-based StrategyChannel Black CHIRLACosechaElla Baker Center for Human RightsEquality FederationFenton CommunicationsForward Justice Forward TogetherFranca CommunicationsFull Focus CommunicationsGroundswell Fund

HAPPIHuman Impact Partners Lady Parts Justice LeagueLightBox Collaborative MegaphoneNational Domestic Workers AllianceNational Network of Abortion FundsNC NAACPNew Economy Coalition NoVo FoundationPorter NovelliPositive Women’s Network - USAPowerLabsReFrame Mentorship ProgramResonanceResource MediaSierra ClubSilver Muse ProductionsSocial Movement TechnologiesSolutions ProjectSoutherners On New GroundSpitfire StrategiesThe Media ConsortiumThe Opportunity AgendaThe Story of Stuff ProjectTrina Stout Strategies LLCUS Human Rights NetworkVoiceRaiserWorking Partnerships US

While the Network is expanding, a majority of the folks who responded in early surveys live on the west coast, so deciding to host the Unconvening in Southern California made logistical sense. All told, we had forty-one participants from West Coast, six from the Midwest or Southwest, twenty-nine from Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and fourteen from the South.

Because we work across movements and issues, we center the experience of people of color and communities most impacted in this political moment in everything we do. The following demographic breakdown reflects authentic progress toward this commitment:

RACIAL & ETHNIC IDENTITYAmerican Indian, Alaska Native or Indigenous 2%Asian, South Asian & Middle Eastern 17%Black or African American 27%Biracial or Multiracial 7%Hispanic, Latino, Latina or Latinx 10%White, including European and Jewish 37%

GENDER IDENTITYGenderqueer 7%Transgender 3%GNC & Femme 5%Cisgender 31%Feminine Identifying 54%Masculine Identifying 12%Masculine and Feminine-identifying 1%

SEXUAL ORIENTATIONBisexual 4%Fluid 1%Gay or Lesbian 4%Heterosexual 42%Pansexual 2%Queer 36%Queer & Bisexual 2%Queer & Gay or Lesbian 4%Prefer not to say 5%

AGE18 - 24 years 8%25 - 34 years 49%35 - 44 years 31%45 – 54 years 8%55 - 64 years 2%Prefer not to say 2%

The #RadComms17 planning team spent eight months raising funds and developing the program. The actual per person cost of attending, which included three nights hotel accommodation, conference facilities and most meals was $1500 per person. Participants were asked to make an honest assessment of what they or their organizations could comfortably contribute, and the planning team committed to fundraise whatever gap might remain. Through a combination of grants, sponsorships and registration fees, the team brought in $160,000, of which a little over $71,000 was earmarked for scholarship. Additionally, the planning team set aside a bank of travel funds, and $1,000 was distributed to offset travel fees of participants who made the request. In the end, the combined total of scholarships and travel assistance totaled a little over $72,000.

HERE’S WHAT PARTICIPANTS HAD TO SAY:

“I think the greatest impact of the Unconvening is the creation of a solid, value-aligned communicators network who will work together to disrupt how communications can be done.”

“(There was a) ridiculous amount of brainpower under one roof. A sense that nothing divides us.”

“The greatest impact was building connections beyond similarities but also challenges too.”

“This was super personal for me. This is the first time that I gave a talk in front of peers in communications. It was the first time that I felt affirmed and accepted into the comms world.”

“How much growth and commitment, powerful to be among so many women of color, many queers.”

“I think just the power of bringing together so many brilliant, diverse people doing related but different work and letting us make those connections.”

“I always believe that the more human connection we have with each other, the more trust and belief we have in each other. A digital listserv is great for maintaining our connection, but does not have the same impact as seeing and feeling someone in person.”

A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR...

Funders, Sponsors and Supporters: ACLU of California, Black Lives Matter, Burness, Change Consulting, Erika Leaf, Ford Foundation & The Institute of International Education, Groundswell Fund, LightBox Collaborative, Molly Stranahan, Proteus Fund, Resource Media, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Sierra Club, SPIN Academy, Spitfire and Solidaire Network.

UnConvening Planning and Onsite Support Team: Amanda Cooper, Ana Reyes, Anna Tellez, Claudette Silver, Holly Minch, Itunnu Awogbade, Jess Jollett, Joseph Phelan, Laurie Ignacio, Marzena Zukowska, Maya, Meredith Fenton, Ricky Junquera, Ryan Schwartz and Shanelle Matthews.

Video Team: Aleksei Wagner, Spencer Mann, Sufia Ikbal-Doucet and Zoe Levett, Marzena Zukowska

Photographer: Green Tangerine Photography, Sasha Matthews

Designer: Tony Carranza

Closed Captioning: Jennifer Betancourt, Home Team Captions

Childcare: Emily Dewhurst of Marion’s Childcare

Site Selection: Christine Kavanagh of HPN Global

Hotel: Kona Kai, San Diego

Welcome & Blessing: Stan Rodriguez, Kumeyaay Tribe

Entertainment: TRU7H

And each and every one of RadComms members.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Shanelle Matthews, Activist-in-Residence, The New Schoolmatthews.shanelle@gmail.com