DEFINE AMERICAN

Define American is creating a nation where everyone belongs and is valued for their humanity, not for economic, social, or political reasons. Our theory of change holds that by changing the narrative surrounding immigrants one story at a time at the mass media market level, we are changing the cultural lens through which we view immigrants. Today, there are 45 million immigrants in this country who are viewed as outsiders and potentially dangerous people. Due to a legacy of historical gatekeeping and the current continuation of exclusionary practices, immigrants are underrepresented in the creation process of mass media. Therefore, the representation of immigrants is often distorted and negatively stereotyped.

Attitudes and beliefs towards immigrants have hardly improved over the past decade—40% of Americans believe newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values, and 35% say that immigrants are a burden on our country because they take jobs, housing, and health care. It is no wonder why immigrants face a tough road to accessing healthcare, societal support, and pathways to citizenship in this political environment.

Through our narrative change efforts, Define American is creating a culture that rejects xenophobia and ostracization of immigrants. Instead, our narrative demands the full inclusion of immigrants in American society. In doing so, we not only benefit the 45 million immigrants but also their millions of family members, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.

Our five core programs are designed to shift the narratives about immigrants at the market level as opposed to at the individual level. Therefore, the goals will be achieved through our five programs with external support and partnerships from other advocacy organizations and mass media companies themselves. Define American is working on measuring the baseline and improving six discrete dominant narratives surrounding immigrants:
1. From criminalization of immigrants to humanized, fully human, flawed people.
2. From viewing and focusing on immigrants as only Latinx people to immigrants from all over the world.
3. From immigrants as labor sources that only leech off American society to immigrants from families who make up American society and contribute deeply to our country.
4. From immigrants as a political football to immigrants trapped in a system that they do not currently control.
5. From undocumented immigrants as isolated islands to each immigrant being part of complex family and community dynamics.
6. From focusing on “migration is beautiful” to addressing the reasons that migration is also painful and often traumatic.

Define American’s culture change strategy is to work primarily as advocates in entertainment, news, and digital media. Additionally, we work to create and develop a pipeline of immigrant creators and produce field-building research. The following are the three overarching goals that direct our five programmatic pillars:

MEDIA ADVOCACY
To ensure that the portrayals of immigrants are accurate across media, Define American consults creators and storytellers in three major media forms: news, entertainment, and digital. We work with the creators of media that are consumed daily by millions of people in order to ensure accurate, uplifting, and humanizing portrayals of immigrants. We also work with the gatekeepers of media to help them understand the impact of their depictions of immigrants and their responsibilities as creators of culture. We have found our strategy of “insider baseball” to be the most impactful strategy of advocating for accurate and humanizing depictions of immigrants in media, and due to our positioning, we have the capacity to fill the need.

PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT
To fill the gap in the talent pipeline, Define American works to build out networks of immigrant creatives and, in some cases, support their professional development. One of the primary factors contributing to negative and stereotypical depictions of immigrants in mass media is the lack of immigrant creators working in those fields. Define American’s Storyteller Support and Digital Storytelling programs develop emerging immigrant creators and help established influencers speak about the importance of immigrants in American culture. Our pipeline development work also builds a national network of immigrant content creators who face unique challenges and lack opportunities in media.

FIELD-BUILDING RESEARCH
To better measure and inform the work of culture change as a field, Define American invests in innovative academic research that supports the importance of narrative change as a tool for advocacy. Although the majority of people understand the need for direct services and litigation strategies, narrative change is still viewed as a nice-to-have instead of a must-have. Our research demonstrates the efficacy and power of narrative to shape hearts and minds to be more welcoming and inclusive of immigrants. We also use these findings to inform the strategy behind our programs so that they are as effective and impactful as possible.