If public interest communications were the final boss in a video game and I had to train someone to tackle it, I would equip them with just two things: heart and hope. These tools will help you accomplish even the most challenging communications missions. As I look back on my summer, many of the anecdotes I would share all culminate in the same lesson: put heart into all that you do in the hopes that it will produce positive change.
Heart, for me, is the why. It is what keeps your work grounded in the people, the communities, and the values that shaped who you are. It is the part of communications that refuses to let people be reduced to statistics, and pushes the communicator to curate the message to the hearts of the audience. It is the decision to remember that behind every talking point is a human with a story. Heart is also what keeps you accountable by reminding you who commissioned you to advocate on behalf of them.
Hope, on the other hand, is the how. A definition that I have heard for public interest communications is that “it is communications to make the world a better place”. The challenges we take on in the field are often complex, entrenched, and slow to change. Hope keeps us constantly pursuing new solutions to the issues we are passionate about, in order to improve the state of the world. It pushes you to imagine a better future and to communicate in a way that helps others see it too. Hope transforms advocacy from simply highlighting problems to showing what is possible.
This summer, I met communicators who mastered both, speaking with as much conviction as compassion. They shared essential data, but always tied it back to the lived experiences of those affected. They strategized for impact, but never lost sight of the humanity at the center of their work. Whether they were fighting for human rights, healthcare reform, or against hunger and drug abuse, their messages resonated because they were grounded in heart and carried by hope.
During my internship, it was easy to get caught up in mastering tools, metrics, and messaging frameworks because they were important aspects of our communications strategy. However, what kept me inspired and intrigued by my work as the summer progressed was the resiliency shown by HRW staff and sources whose stories they helped tell.
If I hand you a toolkit for public interest communication, it would not be heavy. Just some heart to remind you why you are here, and hope to keep you moving forward. Everything else, the strategy, the skills, the style, can be built on that foundation.
In the end, the heart behind the words and the hope they inspire are the most important tools you need if you plan on conquering public interest communications!