Last October, Tameshia Bridges Mansfield, Keely Cat-Wells (Making Space), Tamiera “TC” Nash (Louisiana Opportunity Youth Alliance), and Tracy Van Slyke (Pop Culture Collaborative) joined Further Together for a powerful panel on narrative. Together, they explored how cultural stories shape how we see work, workers, and workforce systems—and how those stories influence what we fund, what we scale, and who we value. For more on the framing of this panel, read our first blog post here.
In part two, we lean into some specific takeaways from our speakers and their experiences working within different communities.
Narratives do more than describe groups of people. Narratives define what we believe they deserve.
In workforce development, the stories we tell about people shape everything—from policy design to funding priorities to everyday interactions. If we want systems that expand opportunity, we must examine the stories that constrain it.
Disability: From Charity to Competitive Advantage
In disability inclusion, the dominant “medical model” frames disability as a condition to fix. Alternatively, disability has been framed through a charity lens, with disabled individuals portrayed as inspirational exception or as recipients of help. This narrative narrows expectations and limits investment.
The social model offers a different story: people are disabled not by their bodies, but by inaccessible environments and policies. Remove the barriers, and participation follows.
The social model of disability disrupts this framing. It argues that disability is created by barriers—not bodies. Inaccessible workplaces, rigid job descriptions, and inflexible systems are the problem.
When we shift the narrative:
- Inclusion becomes smart business strategy.
- Accessibility becomes infrastructure.
- Accommodation becomes innovation and competitive advantage.
As Keely Cat-Wells noted, disability is not niche. It is universal. At some point, every person will experience disability. Expanding opportunity is not about special treatment—it is about designing systems that recognize the full spectrum of humanity.
This reframing is not window dressing. It has the power to change hiring practices, design standards, leadership pipelines, and capital flows.
Young People: From Risk to Resource
The same dynamic applies to young people, particularly opportunity youth and young people of color.
When youth are framed as risky, systems respond with surveillance and compliance. When they are framed as capable and exploratory, systems respond with mentorship and investment.
Tamiera “TC” Nash and the Louisiana Opportunity Youth Alliance (LOYAL) have demonstrated how narrative shift can drive policy change. By centering young people’s stories in asset-based language—and creating direct engagement with legislators—they helped secure a state resolution to study youth needs. Even more telling, lawmakers began using LOYAL’s reframing language on their own.
That is narrative change in motion.
Perhaps most powerful: young participants carried that new framing back to their communities, organizing others. Narrative and organizing worked together, reinforcing one another.
Culture change and policy change are mutually reinforcing.
What Funders Can Do
Funders are not neutral actors in narrative ecosystems. Every grant reinforces certain assumptions—about who has power, whose voice matters, and what change looks like.
If philanthropy wants to accelerate equitable workforce systems, it must invest in narrative intentionally and over time.
Here are four places funders can start:
1. Listen and Hold Space
Narrative work begins with understanding existing cultural assumptions and the harms embedded within them. This requires humility and proximity.
2. Fund Narrative Research and Strategy
Landscape analyses, audience research, and message testing are essential infrastructure—not optional add-ons.
3. Resource Grantees to Do Narrative Work
Storytelling, communications capacity, evaluation, and relationship-building require funding. Program outputs alone do not shift culture.
4. Invest in Narrative Infrastructure and Leadership
Long-term examples, like that cited by Tracy Van Slyke of Pop Culture Collaborative of how the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Caring Across Generations changed the narrative about care workers, show that sustained investment in leadership, entertainment partnerships, policymaker engagement, and organizing can transform how entire professions are understood. This work took more than a decade—but it changed the cultural terrain.
Workforce development deserves similar ambition.
Moving From Scarcity to Shared Humanity
At its core, narrative change is about power.
It asks us to move from zero-sum thinking to shared prosperity. From “deserving versus undeserving” to universal belonging. From short-term outputs to long-term cultural transformation.
Imagine a workforce narrative where:
- Disability signals design opportunity and innovation.
- Young people are architects of their futures.
- Investment in talent is understood as economic common sense.
- All workers have the right to dignity and security at work.
- Opportunity is something we build together.
Funders, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates all have a role in shaping that story.
The question is not whether narrative shapes workforce development. It already does.
The question is: Will we shape the narrative—or let it shape us?
If you’re exploring how narrative strategy fits into your workforce funding or partnerships, we’d love to connect. Reach out to Workforce Matters to share what you’re learning—or to think together about how we shape a more equitable workforce story.
