CSS has been involved in building the North America climate justice movement for a number of years, recently through our role as a founding member of the Climate Justice Alliance’s Our Power Campaign. In December of last year the world’s eyes were on the United Nation’s COP-21 Climate Talks in Paris where the countries of the world negotiated the first ever truly global climate treaty.
Read MoreIn January 2016, after nearly two years of community members raising health concerns about their tap water, the situation in Flint finally got some national public attention. There was the typical blast of media coverage: TV lights, headlines, journalists asking politicians a few tough questions… but inevitably the media cycle moves on while the day-to-day crisis still exists.
Read MoreRecently at the Center For Story-based Strategy we have been playing with different ways to use images in order to help explain some of our narrative strategy concepts. Specifically, we have been struck with the importance of training people to challenge the underlying assumptions in organizing work and creating moments that trigger what we call "psychic breaks."
Read MoreThree years ago a handful of fast food cooks and cashiers went on strike in New York City. Their brave action, taken without the protection of a union or a labor contract, sparked what has grown into the Fight for 15 Campaign that includes fast food workers, home care workers, gas station attendants, Wal-Mart workers and airport workers.
Read MoreThe time is coming, once again, to gather social movement leaders, change-agents, and communications practitioners in beautiful Corbett, Oregon (Menucha Retreat and Conference Center) for 5 days of hands-on training and creative strategy-development: that's right, it's almost time for CSS's 2016 Advanced Training!
Read MoreLast November CSS co-founder Patrick Reinsborough travelled to Berlin to attend a convening of the European SmartCSOs Lab. Smart CSOs is an international network of campaigners, activists, researchers and funders exploring how civil society organizations can be more effective drivers of systemic change.
Read MoreI was that little girl who sat up front during reading time in the school library, and borrowed the maximum amount of books at least once a week. I would try to read books at the dinner table (Sorry, Mom!) and at parties when I couldn't leave my friends - I mean, characters - and their adventures behind.
Read MoreAs the climate movement grows, the limited vision of the climate crisis as a siloed, single “environmental” issue has been replaced by a growing recognition that climate destabilization is a symptom of deeper flaws in our economic and political system.
Read MoreGreenpeace has been designing and implementing high impact, headline grabbing campaigns for over 40 years. Our work at the Center for Story-based Strategy has been greatly influenced by the original Greenpeace ideas around using media spectacle to create “mind bombs”.
Read MoreTop Memes considers memes used or created by our social movements to challenge the status quo, and the mass memes shaping politics and pop culture. For us, memes spread meaning through story, via symbols and practices and are transmitted through writing, speech, gestures, images, rituals, and phenomena.
Read MoreTop Memes considers memes used or created by our social movements to challenge the status quo, and the mass memes shaping politics and pop culture.
Read MoreEvery year at the Advanced Training (AT), CSS gathers together change agents from all parts of the country to learn, collaborate and to immerse themselves with their peers in story-based strategy. A huge part of the AT is the ever-popular campaign lab, where participants are divided into small groups to apply story-based strategy to a real world campaign of one of the participants.
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