A New Identity
Over the previous months, we have been taking the time to reflect on the CFH name and brand that we have held for nearly 30 years. As a part of this, we have been revisiting a conversation regarding a potential organization name change and new brand identity. This conversation was started close to 7 years ago, when the CFH board had some in-depth discussions and reached consensus that a name change made sense—but that we should pause moving forward with a change until the permanent shelter project was completed. Now, the shelter is slated to open soon, and with that transition, we hope to unveil a new brand identity for CFH.
As you may know, a brand identity is more than just a new name—when done well, it helps to communicate our values, our personality, and our commitments to community. And for many years, Congregations for the Homeless did just that. However, we have grown and expanded during this time, and we believe a new brand identity is necessary to capture our mission for three key reasons:
First, our name no longer tells the story of all that we do. For 13 years, CFH only had a rotating shelter housed in congregations, but we now have shelter, housing, outreach, and supportive services that are not housed in or strongly connected to the congregations. We still have a deep partnership and connections with the congregations, but we also have developed many other partnerships with government funders, businesses, rotary groups, foundations, individual donors, and more who are not connected to congregations.
Second, we serve more than just people experiencing homelessness. CFH operates 90 units of housing. When CFH started we did not have our housing programs. Our name unintentionally excludes that we serve people who are housed; they are no longer experiencing homelessness!
And, third, our name hasn’t kept up with respectful and person-centered language for how to address people experiencing homelessness. “The homeless” is considered a derogatory term in the business. They are people first—their main identity is not that they are homeless. They are people experiencing homelessness.
What Happens Next?
We are partnering with Rotator Creative, a team of creatives who will facilitate the project and design our new identity. There are several phases to the project, with varying levels of involvement with stakeholders — perhaps the most important being the initial discovery phase. During this phase, Rotator intends to learn everything they can about our organization: who we are, whom we serve, how we operate, our aspirations, etc. They will do that through a variety of stakeholder engagement opportunities to make sure all significant input has been gathered and added to the research. After the research is complete, Rotator will begin the ideation process using these variables to create a broad swath of possible solutions. Rotator will explore a full range of concepts, ideas and solutions that have the potential to effectively engage community and convey the essence of what CFH has become and is becoming (both currently and aspirationally).
We believe the outcome of this project will be to develop a relevant identity for CFH that conveys the unique services, skills, and approach that we bring to our region, helping men move from being unhoused to a place where they have stable housing and hope as they build back their lives.
We hope to launch our new identity during the community celebration for our new building this coming Spring.
