Narratives are the collection of values-based stories and messages that we use to make sense of the world. They shape what we believe is “common sense”: what we think causes harm, who we see as responsible, and which solutions we imagine are possible. When we shift narratives, we expand what’s possible to achieve for health equity and racial justice. 

For decades, dominant narratives rooted in hierarchy, individualism, free-market ideology, punishment, and scarcity have obscured structural causes of health inequities and constrained our collective imagination. These narratives have often limited public health’s ability to advance justice-centered solutions.

Narrative is a form of power. We work to expose and disrupt harmful dominant narratives, co-create transformative narratives grounded in shared values, and embed those narratives into public health organizing, policy, research, and practice. By building narrative capacity, and transforming narratives throughout all of our work, we help create the cultural and political conditions needed for lasting change.