FrameWorks Institute

FrameWorks was founded in 1999 with a clear mission: bringing leading-edge insights from social science to the nonprofit sector, and supporting the sector’s capacity to reframe social problems as policy issues and drive social change. Based on their research findings, they develop and test more productive ways of thinking about social issues and more effective communications strategies. FrameWorks received a planning grant to develop a digital-first narrative pilot in two Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) sites. The pilot project’s objective was to test ways of influencing safety narratives locally and create a more supportive environment for current and future changes to local justice systems. The planning grant covered the creation of a shortlist of sites to consider for the pilot, development of criteria to assess the strength of sites for the pilot, research to select up two finalists, working relationships with local partners, tactical ad campaign plans for up to two pilot sites, and a basic campaign start-up in preparation for implementation. This grant supports full implementation of a digital-first ad campaign about what makes communities safer in the two selected pilot sites, St Louis County, Missouri, and Multnomah County, Oregon, and the development of a model for measuring the narrative pilot’s impact.

FrameWorks' was founded in 1999, and it's mission is to advance the nonprofit sector's communications capacity by identifying, translating, and modeling relevant scholarly research to frame the public discourse on social problems. FrameWorks uses Strategic Frame Analysis® that roots communications practice in the cognitive and social sciences and that investigates cultural attitudes and assumptions about social issues. FrameWorks uses this approach to design, conduct, and publish multi-method, multidisciplinary communications research to empirically identify the most effective ways of reframing social and scientific topics. FrameWorks also offers strategic guidance for advocates, scientists, policymakers, and nonprofit leaders. Through a model backed by artificial intelligence (AI), this award will apply a hybrid approach to identify a more comprehensive set of persuadable audiences in two newly added sites, St. Louis and Multnomah Counties, focusing on specific audiences with tested messaging through digital ads to influence the local narrative about crime and safety.

FrameWorks was founded in 1999 with a clear mission: bring leading-edge insights from social science to the nonprofit sector, supporting the sector’s capacity to reframe social problems as policy issues and drive social change. Using a proprietary set of approaches called Strategic Frame Analysis®, FrameWorks applies social science methods to uncover people’s deeply held worldviews and widely held assumptions. Based on their research findings, they develop and test more productive ways of thinking about social issues and more effective communications strategies. The Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) current communications strategy relies on earned media, a robust website, and publications highlighting stories on how SJC’s investments have helped stop the overuse and misuse of jails. This grant enables FrameWorks to pursue an alternative yet complementary approach: to test and shape locally driven compelling narratives about what makes communities safe while driving the messages forward with an investment in digital media online networks. Initial project funding includes design, planning, and research and development for piloting strategies and tactics in two selected SJC sites. The aim is to learn what works, what to share, and what elements to replicate from the planning process with other SJC jurisdictions and the field.

The FrameWorks Institute is a nonprofit think tank that advances the mission-driven sector’s capacity to frame the public discourse about social and scientific issues. FrameWorks designs, conducts, and publishes multi-method, multi-disciplinary framing research to prepare experts and advocates to expand their constituencies, to build public will, and to further public understanding. The award supports a program of work that will produce empirical, evidence-based practices that will help researchers and advocates more effectively frame and communicate about the social implications of artificial intelligence. 

The FrameWorks Institute is an independent nonprofit research organization founded in 1999 to improve the non-governmental sector’s communications capacity by identifying, translating, and modeling relevant scholarly research for framing public discourse about social problems. With this award, FrameWorks builds on its prior research on public attitudes about immigration issues by assisting advocacy organizations in analyzing and responding publicly to a 2016 National Academy of Sciences report on the economic and fiscal impacts of immigration.