Close to Home
An intensive community listening campaign identified access to safe, affordable housing as an increasing challenge for Metro Denver residents. Through communications, advocacy, and education, this innovative campaign worked to grow understanding and awareness of the broad reach of homelessness and mobilize civic engagement to support solutions.
Services Provided
Strategic Framework
Audience Identification
Research & Evaluation
Content
Media
Engagement
Capacity Building
Storytelling
Our Role
Third Sector Communication Strategies partnered with The Denver Foundation and Spark Policy Institute to develop and lead the Close to Home campaign. Our work began with public opinion polling, focus groups and community outreach to understand existing values and understandings of homelessness, and included creating and branding the campaign, crafting messaging to resonate with existing views, and working with a diverse, cross-sector grassroots network to bring the campaign to life.
We produced a variety of informational assets – campaign website, social media presence, #ICAN cards to generate grassroots engagement, brochures, ads, posters and videos – and provided trainings and technical assistance to the grassroots network to help them integrate shared messaging into their daily communications, grow partnerships to reach more audiences, and identify actions to encourage increasing numbers of people to take to make a meaningful difference in addressing homelessness.
The Close to Home grassroots network – which was made up of individuals with personal experience of homelessness, together with allies in housing, education, domestic violence, business, faith and homelessness-focused organizations and agencies – also created a Storytellers Network. We had the wonderful privilege of mentoring and providing communications supports to storytellers to help them effectively share their compelling stories in a wide array of forums and settings across the metro area – and beyond.
Increasing awareness through advertising and a strong social media presence, broadening understanding by sharing stories in small community gatherings and at large conferences, and mobilizing action through grassroots partners’ extensive and diverse networks, helped more people to understand that losing a home can happen to anyone.
Christie McElhinney
Principal
Mobile: 303.881.0124
Email: Christie@tscstrategies.com
CONTACT
Connect with us by phone or email to explore ways we can provide guidance and supports that strengthen your organization and advance your efforts to make the world a better, brighter place.
Communication Solutions
for Social Change
CONTACT
Christie McElhinney
Principal
Mobile: 303.881.0124
Email: Christie@tscstrategies.com
Connect with us by phone or email to explore ways we can provide guidance and supports that strengthen your organization and advance your efforts to make the world a better, brighter place.
