IMPACT | Building public will for racial equity, postsecondary education opportunities, and a healthier democracy
Led by HCM, the Collaborative brings together national organizations and consultants to offer state-based advocacy organizations a suite of strategic communications, political strategy, campaign and coalition-building, public opinion research and racial and economic justice expertise.
Together with the state-based partner and local investors, the Collaborative will organize the voices of impacted constituents, build compelling narratives, and coalesce influencers and policy advocates for specific policy innovations. Through its state-based work, the Collaborative also seeks to inform and stimulate a more productive national conversation on the role postsecondary education can and must play in America’s democracy and economy.
OUR CHANGE STRATEGIES in each state we engage include:
01
Identify through public opinion research where Americans agree, across racial and partisan lines, on solutions that can create a more equitable system of postsecondary education; and identify the seeds for deeper common ground that most powerfully attends to racial disparities.
02
Determine how the context of participating states should inform and guide the design of media and public affairs strategies. Insights into these different state contexts inform asset-based, politically-sensitive and culturally-specific framing and messaging and the multi-stakeholder coalitions needed to expand the common ground for change.
03
Establish a process for bringing community voices and policymakers together to leverage and cultivate common ground on the importance of postsecondary education, broadly, and the need for specific policy innovations.
04
Inform and stimulate productive conversations on how postsecondary education contributes to a healthier democracy.
In the NEWS
America’s Hidden Common Ground on Public Higher Education: What’s Wrong and How to Fix it
Is College Worth It? Americans Say They Value Higher Education, but it’s too Expensive for Many
Four-Year Degree Worth The Cost? Americans Value Education, but Government Should Pick Up the tab
Cost of College, Student Debt has Many Americans Questioning College
My four-year degree was the expectation. My trade school training actually got me my job.
Here’s What Schools Should Do About Lack of Faith in College Education and Its High Cost