Communications for social change

frank is a learning event, an experience and essential community for movement builders and change makers – the people who use communications to drive positive social, institutional and behavioral change. A part of the University of Florida Center for Public Interest Communications, frank gathering informs and drives the field of public interest communications through research, insights and news.

frank brings together changemakers together from across the earth. Our community is made up of strategists, researchers, artists, journalists, students, activists and more. From corporate advocacy to the research lab to the street activist, the frank community believes in using evidence-based strategies to drive social change. If you see yourself in our mission, then we welcome you into our community.

During a three-day gathering, frank combines expert short talks with hands-on work sessions, highlights new technology or ideas and offers creative networking activities that build relationships. This curated experience focuses on making the most of the time participants devote to the gathering and prepares participants for how they can best engage, learn and take learning home to apply. Watching these talks will give you a sense of speakers and how frank prepares them, and you can check out links to other aspects of the frank community.

Before frank became an event and a community, Frank was a person. Frank Karel spent his 30-year career using communication for social change, served as vice president for communications for the Robert Wood Johnson and Rockefeller Foundations and recognized the critical importance of strategic communication in taking on the world’s most important challenges. So frank refers not only to the candor and directness with which we approach our work, but also to our affection for him. Frank and his wife, Betsy, endowed a chair in public interest communications at his beloved alma mater, the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. The chair builds curriculum in public interest communications, mentors students planning careers in the field and identifying connections and learning from with other fields. Spitfire is proud to work with partners at UF and throughout the community.