Dennis Chin

Chief Strategy Officer | We Make the Future

Pronouns: he/him

Dennis C Chin (he/him) is the Chief Strategy Officer at We Make the Future, an organization that builds narrative power by supporting the capacity of partner organizations to use race-forward, empirically based messaging in their work. Previously, he served as Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward.

Presentations from Facing Race 2022

Public Education: The Foundation for Multiracial Democracy

The future of our society hinges on our ability to truly realize a just, equitable multiracial democracy and it must start with honest and fully funded multiracial public education. Neither our political nor education system were set up for this, but that is the promise of what our movements can achieve by uniting our communities across all the lines used to divide us.

Moderator(s): Dennis Chin Speakers: James Ford, Alex Ames, Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Becky Pringle

The Freedom to Learn: The Fight for Honest, Equitable, and Fully Funded Public Schools as the Foundation for a Just, Multiracial Democracy

In school districts across the United States, we have seen the results of the far-right’s relentless attacks on public education - whether through the proliferation of educational gag orders on race, gender, and sexual orientation in our public schools, the harassment of teachers who refuse to be silent on matters of equity and inclusion, or the banning of books that represent the full spectrum of experience that is essential to understanding our pluralistic world. Attacks on public education are not new; they are part of a long-term strategy to dismantle public schools (and public systems, writ large) and ultimately, undermine democracy. In this plenary, we are joined by movement leaders who are not just countering the far-right's attack on public education but are also fighting for a more just, multiracial democracy through organizing and narrative change.

Moderator(s): Dennis Chin Speakers: James Ford, Alex Ames, Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Becky Pringle

Presentations from Facing Race 2024

Running up That Hill: Messaging to Win a Multiracial Democracy

We all come from people who have made a way out of no way. Let us reflect on what we have accomplished collectively in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Whether we’re Black or white, Latine or Asian, Indigenous or newcomer, we and our ancestors have faced insurmountable odds before and continue to make change so that our families and communities are vibrant and whole.

In this workshop, we will focus on two research-backed elements of effective race-forward messaging that counters the huge obstacle of cynicism and inspires people to action: “Vision” and “Victories.” We will discuss how to incorporate these into our messaging and why they strengthen the stories we tell and the campaigns we run.

Speakers: Dennis Chin, Matthew Armstead