Policy shop overhaul
Project Overview
Children's Action Alliance and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress are Arizona's legacy progressive policy organizations. As Digital Strategist during a pivotal political and social moment for Arizona and the country (2020–2022), I led a full overhaul of both organizations' communications infrastructure, heading the redevelopment and rebrand of both organizations.
Industries
Public Policy
Advocacy
Services
Overhaul
Omnichannel
Art Direction
Year
2020 - 2022
Сhallenge
Both organizations were losing reach at a moment when effective communication mattered most. All outreach ran through an outdated email platform, and the websites were used for little beyond posting press releases, leaving Children's Action Alliance and the Arizona Center for Economic Progress without the digital presence needed to grow an audience or demonstrate to funders that they could meet people where they were.
Approach
I led a full rebrand and website overhaul for both organizations, partnering with an external agency on a modern, bright, and hopeful creative direction; a deliberate break from the prior print-and-press-release posture. The new platform became the anchor for a broader shift in how both organizations communicated day to day, not simply a visual refresh. I expanded content strategy beyond press releases to regular website publishing, built out social media channels from the ground up, overhauled the outdated email platform, and implemented Salsa Labs to streamline donor giving.
Results
The overhaul drove a 50% increase in content output, a 122.4% increase in audience, and a 121.5% increase in engagement. That growth became the infrastructure behind several major policy wins: I led communications including paid media, press, lobbying materials, social media, digital organizing, event coverage, policy briefs, and out-of-home advertising including billboards and mobile billboard trucks for the campaign that passed Proposition 208 (Invest in Ed) in 2020, generating an estimated $940 million a year in new K-12 education funding. I led the comprehensive comms strategy behind the 2022 kinship caregiver stipend increase, raising the monthly stipend from $75 to $300 and securing nearly $20 million in new state funding. I also directed communications for the pressure campaign targeting Arizona's U.S. senators during the federal reconciliation process, work that contributed to the eventual passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
