The Financial Communicator

CDFI Sector Impact Communications

(Image credit: Mike Lawrence on Flickr)

I work with primarily Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) that are non-depository loan funds, and their nonprofit affiliates. These organizations prioritize lending to low-resource individuals undeserved by the mainstream banking industry. 

They're focused on democratizing access to capital, especially for home buying, foreclosure prevention, and business startup and operations financing. Their overarching goal is to help mitigate the racialized wealth gap and stabilize low and moderate income rural and urban communities with residents of all demographic backgrounds. 

I'm most interested in working with CDFI loan funds (and their nonprofit partners) in the foreclosure prevention space.

While what you see on this page is blog posts, the content writing and strategy I do in the CDFI sector is an integral part of an overall impact messaging strategy I've developed with my clients. 

So, if you have specific strategic communications needs—from thought leadership content that conveys your unique impact in the sector to reputation restoration after a crisis—I will help you create compelling copy to support that objective. My goal is to enhance your organizational recognition with strategic impact communications strategy.

Producing blog content is an essential element of that. We will create a distinct content and SEO strategy based on EEAT and YMYL concepts for each pillar piece of content based on your strategic communications needs. This content will help your organization be higher in SERP related your organization's impact messaging strategic requirements. 

I can offer you this unique combination of solutions because in addition to my corporate communications background, I have significant experience with SEO-feuled content writing and strategy in residential mortgage and small business development and lending, and personal finance. Because I understand the legal aspects of developing finance industry communications and content strategy, I can help you get my deliverables through your legal review process (unless your organization has exceptional circumstances).

But if your organization only needs "just a writer" to draft blog posts on any of these subjects with "x" number of words to fill your blog with content, I’m not the communications strategist for you. I only accept monthly strategic communications engagements for this work, too.

So, if you need a professional strategic communicator to work with the principals at your firm to develop an impact messaging campaign and write the pillar content that helps you achieve its goals, contact me for a complimentary 30-45-minute introductory call.

CDFI Loan Fund Strategic Content

BlueHub Capital •

The State of US Housing Market in Spring 2024: What's in store for buyers and sellers?

This blog post overviews the spring 2024 U.S. housing market where mortgage rates dip, boosting optimism. Inventory rises with Fed's rate cut plans, but high home values present affordability challenges. Opportunities emerge for buyers and sellers in this shifting market landscape. (This deeply researched story intends to position BlueHub SUN as thought leaders in the real estate market, particularly the foreclosure prevention space. This is a key aspect of its strategic impact communications plan and its overall organizational objectives, which I must consider with each blog post.)
BlueHub Capital •

Helping Homeowners in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Prevent Foreclosure

As bankruptcy filings rise, it's imperative that non-lawyer foreclosure prevention professionals commit to collaborating with their homeowner clients' Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys. This blog post provides a general overview of Chapter 13 as a tool to help prevent foreclosure. It also explains how you can support your homeowner clients in successfully preserving their home through the process. [Meeting SUN's strategic communications objectives with robust content and underlying content strategy is imperative with all I deliver to them. The goal of this blog post is to position BlueHub SUN as a thought leader in helping homeowners prevent foreclosure that also understands how to work with clients in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It's also meant to amplify their organizational reputation as collaborators with legal and non-legal housing professionals and their homeowner clients working to keep their homes and grow generational wealth. Positioning SUN as an empathetic, helpful expert in this space that offers innovative mortgage refinancing solutions to people who don't have equitable access to mortgage capital was key for this post, too.] (Image: Tierra Mallorca, Unsplash)
BlueHub Capital SUN •

Case Studies: How SUN Helped Two Families Refinance Out of Foreclosure

The goal of this blog post is to show how SUN achieves sustainable impact in the foreclosure prevention space by working with clients using its adaptive strategies to lending. With the subjects of these case studies, Lauren Taylor* and Kevin Russell*, who each experienced unique and complicated financial situations that lead to foreclosure on their homes, when they applied to SUN, the lender its adaptive strategies to mortgage financing to surmount Taylor’s and Russell’s extenuating circumstances. That gave them both a second chance to stay in their homes and increase their home’s equity. Here are their stories. [*The names of clients featured here have been changed to protect their privacy. But the specifics and timelines of events depicted are factual representations of their experiences working with SUN.] (I constructed and wrote these case studies from notes about these clients provided by SUN. I applied my extensive understanding of residential mortgage lending and knowledge of Chapter 13 bankruptcy law to this process.)
BlueHub Capital SUN •

HomeFree-USA's Collaborative Approach to Homeownership Counseling

A core part of the strategic communications strategy for BlueHub SUN is to become "go-to" experts in foreclosure prevention and show they are advocates for homeowners facing foreclosure. To achieve a true impact in the foreclosure prevention space, SUN collaborates with housing counselors like Gary Plummer. I wrote this story to show that SUN is not only a homeowner advocate but also is an innovator the foreclosure prevention sector. SUN also commissioned this story to thank one of its most supportive partners, HomeFree-USA for their hard work collaborating with SUN for homeowners facing foreclosure who have no other lender options. SUN also wanted to feature and thank Gary Plummer, a staunch advocate for foreclosure prevention and Black wealth preservation for his work with SUN. I also strategically created the newsletter introductory text, for which I'm responsible monthly, which is designed to improve open rates and CTR. (To learn more about BlueHub SUN's foreclosure prevention services, visit their site here: https://bit.ly/3Hw3q8Y)
BlueHub Capital SUN •

12 Months to Better Credit: Rebuild Your Credit Score to Improve Your Financial Health

A core part of the strategic communications strategy for BlueHub SUN is to become "go-to" experts in foreclosure prevention. They also want their messaging, including blog content, to show they are advocates for homeowners facing foreclosure that provide last resort mortgage loans when no other residential mortgage finance firm will consider them. (They have strict qualifications for these loans, however.) But, once homeowners take their loans, they encourage them to refinance out of them as soon as they can. So, after a planned blog post for the month, that was part of our original content strategy for the six months beginning August 2023 and ending in January 2024, fell through a second time (because our SME wasn't available for an interview for a thought leadership piece), I quickly proposed and created this educational piece targeting BlueHub SUN core lending clients, homeowners. I turned it around in 48 hours, including creating the newsletter introductory text, for which I'm responsible monthly which is designed to improve open rates and CTR. (To learn more about BlueHub SUN's foreclosure prevention services, visit their site here: https://bit.ly/3Hw3q8Y)
BlueHub Capital SUN •

Navigating Financial Hardship: Foreclosure Prevention for Homeowners

A core part of the strategic communications strategy for BlueHub SUN is to become "go-to" experts in foreclosure prevention and show they are advocates for homeowners facing foreclosure. But, their goal isn't just to get new mortgage lending clients, it's to help prevent homeowners from having to use their last resort strategies. So, after a planned blog post for the month, that was part of our original content strategy for the six months beginning August 2023 and ending in January 2024, fell through, I quickly proposed and created this educational piece targeting BlueHub SUN core lending clients, homeowners. I turned it around in 48 hours, including creating the SEO strategy for the blog post, and the newsletter introductory text, for which I'm responsible monthly. (To learn more about BlueHub SUN's foreclosure prevention services, visit their site here: https://bit.ly/3Hw3q8Y)
BlueHub Capital SUN •

Homeowner Assistance Fund Status Update

I researched and wrote this blog post, a thought leadership piece that provides an update on a critical U.S. government residential foreclosure prevention program--the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF). From the story: "The federal government established this nearly $10 billion federal program in 2021 to provide states, territories and tribes with the funds to support homeowners in underserved communities at risk of foreclosure. HAF helps them with paying their mortgage, utilities, property taxes and other housing costs." The social impact communications storytelling aim of this story is to help establish my client, BlueHub Capital SUN, as a "go-to" resource and committed homeowner advocate in foreclosure prevention last resort lending. The core audience for this blog post is SUN's referral partners, which include housing counselors, debtors attorneys, and real estate agents attempting to help homeowners prevent foreclosure and remain in their residence. (Learn more about BlueHub SUN here: https://bit.ly/3Hw3q8Y)