New Narrative Toolkit—Future Over Fear: Tools To Build A Different Story

Posted by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity on October 14, 2025

In this Spotlight Exclusive, we look at a new narrative toolkit—Future Over Fear: Tools To Build A Different Story—recently unveiled by the Opportunity Agenda (TOA). TOA hopes the new toolkit will help organizations working in communities across the country push back against “a moment of intense narrative backlash.” “We’re hearing from partners across the field who feel exhausted, overwhelmed and under-resourced in the face of this fear-based messaging,” TOA President Traci Lester said during a webinar to unveil the toolkit late last month. “What they need is a different kind of narrative, one that doesn’t ignore fear, but offers a bridge through it, one that grounds people in a realistic and hopeful future. A narrative that names our problems honestly and shows a path forward that includes all of us.” Lester said most nonprofit organizations don’t have in-house narrative experts, and the toolkit was developed to “translate complex research into practical, useable guidance.” Said Jade Wilenchik, TOA’s Program Strategy and Cohort Manager: “This toolkit is ultimately designed to help civic and cultural leaders strategize boldly in response to fear-based narratives. It’s practical, flexible, and rooted in the long-term vision that we all share.”

Read more and access the toolkit.