Jubilee Housing

When the Jubilee Housing leadership and board adopted a new phrase—justice housing—to describe its organizational philosophy towards providing affordable housing, the team struggled with finding exactly the right words to define what they meant by that phrase. Jubilee Housing engaged Mission Partners to create a definition of justice housing and messaging to help members of the team communicate about the philosophy. Mission Partners hosted a series of in-depth interviews, followed by a focus group in Washington, DC, to explore perceptions and associations of every word in the proposed definition. Mission Partners assembled a diverse group of residents, board members, donors, and volunteers, leading participants through a variety of structured and unstructured exercises and questions to uncover feelings and emotions associated with every word. Mission Partners then developed all brand elements to support the roll out of the new phrase and brand, including a case statement for support. Just 9 months after launching the Justice Housing Fund, Jubilee Housing surpassed its $5M fundraising goal and secured more than 100% of its goal for increasing affordable housing units in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.