This messaging guide was developed by the the Justice Beyond Punishment Collaborative (JBPC) and Change Consulting to advance the work of safety, dignity and belonging through research-informed best practices of social change messaging that moves people to action.

You can think of these messages as building blocks to use when developing any kind of content — a social media post, web copy, newsletter, flier, op-ed, blog, talking points for funders or media interviews, presentations and speaking engagements, etc. Adapting the Values, Problem, Solution, Action messaging framework by the Opportunity Agenda, this set of core messages leads with shared values to activate emotions and open an audience’s minds and hearts. It then frames the problems we seek to solve as a threat to our values. This creates a sense of urgency and connects individual stories to broader systems and dynamics and primes our audience to learn about working towards justice beyond punishment.