From Intractable to Solvable: Narrative Change as a Strategy for Firearm Violence Prevention

A two-part series on how storytelling shifts the frame and funders’ role in it.

Firearm violence is a public health crisis, but the story we hear often is of intractability, “too entrenched”, “politically frozen”, “too big to move”. That framing suppresses both public will and philanthropic investment because a problem believed to be unsolvable rarely attracts the resources to solve it. This two-part series makes a distinction that matters for how funders act. A story is a single account, but a narrative is the deeper frame that tells audiences what every story means. Changing that frame is slow, cumulative work, and it is a long-term strategy. Part I examines why narrative change is hard and long, and how solutions-focused journalism shifts public understanding of firearm violence and reframes the crisis as solvable. Part II shares examples of funder support around journalism, data infrastructure, and grantee stories as ways health funders can invest in the frame shift alongside their direct FVP grantmaking efforts.