We Make the Future (WMTF) is a left-of-center advocacy group that develops campaign language based on Race Class Narrative (RCN) that is used by other activist groups to build social and political campaigns. We Make the Future was founded in 2021 to implement Race Class Narrative research. ¹

WMTF campaigns for tax increases, increases to public-school funding in low-income areas, and environmentalism using the Race Class Narrative. ^{2 3 4} Its official partners include several left-of-center advocacy groups and labor unions. ⁵  

Race Class Narrative

Democratic polling firm Lake Research Partners, the SEIU labor union, and the left-wing think tank Demos created the Race Class Narrative  project in 2017. ¹ The project was founded on the idea that politicians and businesses use racism to divide poor people and working-class people, and sought to develop “an empirically-tested narrative on race and class that resonates with all working people and offers an alternative to—and neutralizes the use of—dog-whistle racism.” ⁶

The narrative is structured based on a four-part messaging strategy, with “shared values” that name race and class, “villains” seeking to “use racial scapegoating as a weapon,” solutions through “collective action,” and a “vision” for left-wing change. ⁷

We Make the Future was founded in 2021 to implement Race Class Narrative research. ¹

Advocacy

We Make the Future supports groups opposed to President Donald Trump, works to support left-of-center officeholders, campaigns for restrictions on gun ownership, and seeks to eliminate gas- and oil-based energy sources while expanding weather-dependent energy sources. WMTF supports Critical Race Theory (CRT), LGBT causes, abortion access, and taxpayer-funded health care. ⁵

Fund Our Future

We Make the Future’s Fund Our Future project aims to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and businesses. The program was done in partnership with the State Revenue Alliance, a nonprofit that suggests “tax policy […] has often been used to suppress Black and Brown people’s opportunity to succeed.” ⁸

In 2021, WMTF released a report it commissioned from Lake Research Partners, ASO Communications, and HIT Strategies to provide activist groups with tested messages for campaigns for tax hikes such as “making the rich pay what they owe” instead of “making the rich pay their fair share” and making wealthy individuals look like villains by calling them “the greedy few who have rigged the rules.” ^{9 2}

Black RCN Project

The Black RCN Project works to influence Black voters by “[weaving] together economic empowerment, racial justice, and gender equity, using language proven to work to mobilize and persuade [Black] voters.” ¹⁰ This project operates through the Deliver Black Dreams Campaign which works to, “amplify Black American electoral power.” ¹¹

Organizations which use Black RNC language typically address people based on their race instead of using all-encompassing words such as “everyone,” and employ phrases like “shared contributions” instead of “taxes” and “taking resources from our communities” instead of “tax breaks.” This softer language aims to appeal to emotions while pushing ideas of racist political leaders and greedy business owners who rob people of what WMTF claims is deserved. ¹²

Safe and Equitable Schools

WMTF’s Safe and Equitable Schools project aims to redistribute tax dollars to increase public school funding in Black and low-income communities. WMTF claims, “A faction…[that] justified segregating our schools […] have blocked efforts for fair funding […] and as a result, Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods are denied resources and the safe environment and educational opportunities needed to thrive.” ³

WMTF suggests that people who disagree with critical race theory being taught in public schools want to “whitewash parts of our history so they can control a political narrative.” ¹³

Climate Justice

WMTF’s Climate Change project intertwines race with climate conditions aims to end the use of oil and gas energy while voting politicians who support oil and gas energy out of office. ¹⁴ WMTF suggests using language such as “fossil fuel CEOs” instead of “utility companies” and wants energy companies to be publicly owned, arguing that utility corporations are greedy. WMTF specifically tells activists not to “dive into the details of governing boards or utility structures” ¹⁵ because those are filled with people from state agencies that are appointed by government officials like in Maryland. ¹⁶

Partners

We Make the Future’s official partners include Arizona Center for Empowerment, Together Colorado, Florida Education Association, Indiana State Teachers Association, We the People Michigan, Detroit Action Education Fund, 482 Forward, ISAIAH, Service Employees International Union, Education Minnesota, 100 Percent MN, Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative, Progress North Carolina, We are Down Home, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Policy Matters Ohio, Ohio Voice, Ohio Education Association, Center for Coalfield Justice, Southern Christian Coalition, Every Texan, Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, Workers Defense Project, Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, Deeds Not Words, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, Leaders Igniting Transformation, and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. ⁵

1. “About the Race Class Narrative.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/about.
2. “Fund Our Future.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/projects/fund-our-future.
3. “Freedom to Learn.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/projects/freedomtolearn.
4. “Messaging Guide: Mobilizing Towards Climate Justice.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/resources-docs/messaging-guide-mobilizing-towards-climate-justice.
5. “Building Narrative Power for A Just, Multiracial Democracy.” We Make the Future, 2023. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l8nTm68PygPMVaoCMajwGLDBz3afqUFJ/view.
6. “The Race-Class Narrative Project.” Demos. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.demos.org/campaign/race-class-narrative-project.
7. We Make the Future. “Architecture of a Winning Narrative.” Google Drive. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BfZMGelaf0Hni3mTTNwGQZkc6BYd43jj/view.
8. “Why Revenue?” State Revenue Alliance. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.staterevenuealliance.org/why-revenue.
9. Lake, Celinda, Jonathan Voss, Lindsey Buttel, Grant Hill, Roshni Nedungadi, Anat Shenker-Osorio, Jillian Marcellus, and Anthony Vidal Torres. “Messaging on Revenue.” We Make the Future, November 2021. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kiw_c3yH3VYZ22M2VwmTUiQn2FXJWVLV/view.
10. “Black Popular Front: Deliver Black Dreams Messaging Guide.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/resources-docs/deliver-black-dreams-messaging-guide.
11. “Deliver Black Dreams 2020 Report.” We Make the Future, 2020. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/resources-docs/deliver-black-dreams.
12.  “Deliver Black Dream Message Guide 2020.” We Make the Future, 2020. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_qGCkYgL7QizXeMaT4uZZS8ggV2R3-re/view.
13. “Freedom to Learn.” We Make the Future, 2021. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fd0f29d0d626c5fb471be74/t/61a65d4f39c80d10d89905b1/1638292817042/WMTF_MessagingGuide_FreedomToLearn_prf5.pdf.
14. “Climate Justice.” We Make the Future. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.wemakethefuture.us/projects/climatejustice.
15. “Messaging Guide: Mobilizing Towards Climate Justice .” We Make the Future, August 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y94vtCGlFRrLcAxCSTf-uKOornY36oZ8xwjteXRuyOI/edit?tab=t.0.
16. “Public Service Commission.” Maryland Public Service Commission. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25ind/html/62pubs.html.