Homeless Care Council Strategic Plan

The Homeless Care Council of Northwest Alabama sought a comprehensive strategic plan to outline the current status of homelessness and to direct their organization moving forward.

In January 2021, HCCNWA, acting as the main coordinator for AL-502, began working on a three-year plan to tackle homelessness in our area. This plan was developed over six months through various community engagements, interviews, surveys, and informal talks. It focuses on improving our response to homelessness across different areas like housing, education, jobs, health, mental health, and substance abuse treatment. The plan takes into account both local insights and research findings to set clear goals and strategies. It includes details on how the research was conducted, highlights local strengths and opportunities, and lays out specific goals and steps to achieve them.

HCCNWA reached out to us to design their Strategic Plan in an appealing, easily digestible format. With years of experience creating publications like this, we were excited to help an incredible cause.

Scope and objectives

We were given two months to take the existing copy in a Word document and reformat it in InDesign for both print and digital.

The budget was small, so graphics would need to be sourced responsibly or created independently. Images were pulled from Unsplash to avoid copyright or royalty issues.

We were also tasked with creating data infographics that were easily understandable and communicated the widespread issues of homelessness in the area.

Implementation

We first read through the report, pulling important statistics and information that could be used for more visual purposes. After organizing, we utilized the logo’s fonts and colors to create a publication that was on-brand.

As we looked at the logo, we noticed that it was not quite the right resolution for publication purposes. As a bonus, we recreated the logo in vector format and provided HCCNWA with files in PNG, EPS, and PDF formats.

We intentionally used large or full-page photos to offset the heavy blocks of text when infographics were not feasible. 

Each of the foundational pillars received their own illustrations to better differentiate from one section to the next, and the graphics were repeated throughout the document.

Conclusion

We were able to take a long-form Word document with heavy data and create something visually appealing, professional, and engaging.

With minimal edits, most of which were copy-related, we streamlined a service that many dread.

HCCNWA’s strategic plan concludes at the end of this year, and we look forward to hearing how their strategic plan allowed their organization to meet goals and objectives, setting the tone for future plans.