The ability to advance a progressive
social change agenda depends on
reframing the public debate in ways
that reflect the needs and perspectives
of ordinary Americans, and then
translating those insights into
concrete policy recommendations.Framing Reports are a tool that regional coalitions can use to communicate their vision of how trends in the regional economy and public policy are affecting the interests of their constituencies, and to spell out policy positions that could lead to more equitable regional development and improved quality of life for the region's residents.

Issuing a Framing Report is a natural next-step in coalition development following the roll out of a Civic Leadership Institute. It provides a cohesive statement of the coalition's social vision and goals, a touchstone for organizing and popular outreach, and a platform for political advocacy and electoral work.

Building Partnerships can help emerging community-labor coalitions develop this important organizing tool, by assisting in the identification of research needs and resources, as well as critical content and issues to address in the process. Building Partnerships was closely involved in the publication of Community Labor United's Framing Report, The Hourglass Challenge, released in December 2006.

For additional examples of effective Framing Reports that community-labor coalitions have produced, see:

Growing Together or Drifting Apart?, by Working Partnerships USA, January 1998

The Economic Effect of Immigration, by Working Partnerships USA, September 2004

A Downtown Denver for Everybody?, by Front Range Economic Strategy Center, February 2007

Good Jobs, Strong Communities: Creating a High-Wage Future for Connecticut, by Connecticut Center for a New Economy, December 2001

Broken Promises: A Debt Past Due at Yale-New Haven Hospital, by Connecticut Center for a New Economy, in May 2005.