Race Forward’s Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy has been off to an exciting start this year! Here’s what we’ve been up to.

We are thrilled to announce our Chrysalis Lab grantees. The response to the Lab was overwhelming: there were nearly 100 applicants whose work spanned a multitude of forms, narratives, audiences and time horizons. Our four grantees are launching projects to test innovative narratives that advance support for immigration, at scale.

The awardees are: 

• Karim Ahmad, for a worldbuilding and story lab to transform monolithic perceptions of Muslim immigrants
• Intelligent Mischief, for a Black migrant futures design lab and immersive multi-platform experience
• Omar Offendum, for Little Syria, a musical theater experience 
• Tennessee Immigrant Rights Coalition, for deep canvassing to increase support for refugee resettlement.

Glenn Harris, President of Race Forward and Publisher of Colorlines, stated, “We are honored to support these organizations in their narrative work at such a pivotal moment in the immigrant justice movement, and we are excited the Chrysalis Lab projects will speak to a variety of people to advance immigrant justice in transformative ways.”

Taryn Higashi, Executive Director of Unbound Philanthropy, said, “The Chrysalis Lab grantees’ projects are creative, innovative, and strategic. We are excited to see these projects unfold, and to share their learnings with the broader immigrant justice movement and all movements working for an inclusive, multi-racial democracy.”

Read more about the Butterfly Lab and our grantees and check out our other offerings!

• Our report and toolkit for immigrant narrative strategy features our learnings and tools that we tested in the first phase of the Lab, and is being used by our Butterfly Lab partners including the Center for Cultural Power, National Partnership for New Americans, 350.org, and National Immigration Law Center. Download it now!
• We are sharing our Narrative Design and Strategy trainings with anyone who wants to advance pro-immigrant narratives. Come learn with us! Check us out at the Allied Media Conference on July 1st. 
• Join us for our upcoming Field Wide Webinar for Narrative Strategy on September 15, 10:00am PST - 12:30pm PST. Stay tuned for registration information in the coming weeks!
• Research Briefing on July 21 –– Save the date! We’ll share the results of research we’re conducting this Spring in partnership with The Opportunity Agenda to uncover the narratives that take us to a pro-immigrant future!

We look forward to having you join us as we continue the work to advance immigrant narrative strategies. 

In Solidarity, 

The Butterfly Lab Team