The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) helps Ohioans find a place to call home—from helping first-time buyers navigate homeownership to supporting affordable housing development and helping homeowners facing financial hardship stay in their homes.

As part of OHFA’s communications and marketing team, I helped tell those stories. My work spanned public relations, editorial content and video, translating complex programs, policies and initiatives into communications that people could understand—and, more importantly, use.

My Role

Communications + Marketing

Deliverables

Content strategy · copywriting · public relations · editorial content · video storytelling & interview development

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The challenge

OHFA serves a wide range of audiences, including homebuyers, homeowners, housing professionals, community partners, developers, policymakers and the media. And the subjects it communicates can get complicated quickly.

The challenge was to take information rooted in housing policy, government programs, funding and finance and make it accessible without stripping away the details that mattered.

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The approach

I approached the work as both a writer and a storyteller: finding the most important idea first, then determining the clearest and most compelling way to communicate it.

Sometimes that meant distilling a complex program into a newsworthy press release. Sometimes it meant finding the human angle for a newsletter story. And sometimes it meant using video to show what stable, affordable housing could mean in someone’s life.

Across formats, the goal was to make OHFA’s communications feel less institutional and more connected to the people and communities behind the programs.

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The work

Public relations

I wrote press releases announcing agency initiatives, funding decisions, program updates and other news—including the reopening of Save the Dream Ohio, a mortgage-assistance program supported by $25 million in funding for Ohio homeowners struggling because of unemployment.

My work also included communications around Fair Housing Month, affordable housing investments, board activity and other agency priorities.

Editorial content

I wrote newsletter content covering OHFA programs, partnerships, events, affordable housing developments and industry accomplishments.

These stories gave the agency room to go beyond announcements and show the people, organizations and communities behind its work.

Video storytelling

To bring OHFA’s impact to life, I helped develop a series of homeowner stories that put real people at the center of the agency’s work.

My role began well before the cameras rolled. I identified and recruited homeowners whose experiences could illustrate the real-world impact of OHFA programs, developed the interview questions, and conducted the interviews myself. From there, I shaped those conversations into focused narratives and wrote the video scripts, finding the moments that could turn complex housing programs into personal, human stories.

My role
Homeowner sourcing and outreach • Story development • Interview strategy • Interview questions • Interviewing • Video scripting • Narrative development

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Extending the story across audiences

The work also extended to industry communications and events, including messaging and content supporting the annual Ohio Housing Conference.

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The result

A more accessible, human way to communicate the work of a complex state agency—across earned media, owned content, and video.

From multimillion-dollar housing investments to individual homeowner stories, the work helped connect OHFA’s programs and initiatives to what they ultimately represented: helping more Ohioans find—and keep—a place to call home.