HOUSING AFFORDABILITY BREAKTHROUGH CHALLENGE
Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing housing supply and advancing racial equity, wanted to capture and feature the impact of the winners of their Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge (HABC). Winners of the challenge are awarded grants of $2-3 million to advance their housing innovations. The HABC team trusted us to tell the story of these challenge winners and the communities they serve, building on our ongoing partnership with Enterprise since 2016 and our successful production of the HABC Online Pitch Days in 2020.
BRINGING VISIBILITY TO A CRITICAL INITIATIVE
For the first round of HABC, in 2022 the Really Useful Media team spent 14 days documenting the progress of the six winning organizations across six distinct communities in Brownsville, Texas; Tacoma, Washington; New York City; Jackson, Mississippi; Boston, Massachusetts; and Oakland, California. These videos aimed to introduce audiences to an inspiring array of solutions to the nationwide housing crisis, and form the heart of an experiential exhibit that has been on display at The National Building Museum in Washington, DC since October 2022.
Throughout the process we collaborated on story development, identifying visual themes and community voices to tell the story of each innovation, as well as the impact of Enterprise’s partnership in helping bring them to life. We also conducted pre-interviews to refine the story, align messaging goals with production logistics and prepare organizations for location filming in each of their communities.
EXPANDING THE PROJECT TO SUPPORT OUR CLIENT’S OBJECTIVES
Following the success of HABC 1.0, we were chosen to continue as Enterprise’s creative partner for the second cycle of funding, this time livestreaming a two-day pitch event in 2023. Enterprise looked to us for leadership in all aspects of production, guiding decisions on staging, lighting, and AV. We also orchestrated interviews with sixteen finalists, Wells Fargo, and museum leadership and crafted a dynamic winner announcement video. We’ve since been documenting this new cohort of six winning innovation teams, starting with filming in Mississippi and Alabama in 2024.
“Really Useful Media’s agile, strategic support elevated and amplified the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. From a flawlessly produced two-day virtual pitch event, to a delightfully human video celebrating our winning innovations, their clear vision, technical command and post-production mastery proved invaluable. ”
– Nicole Gudzowsky, Senior Director, Marketing, Enterprise Community Partners
MORE FROM THIS PROJECT
CREW CREDITS
HABC 1.0
Executive Producer/Story Editor: Emily Kornblut
Producer: Dan Winckler
Directors of Photography: Dan Winckler, Patrick Mandeville (cdcb)
Sound/Second camera: Chandler Griffin (GCHP), Joel Barham (Forterra), Johnny Coleman (GCHP), Lourdes Kalusha-Aguirre (CNYCN, POAH), Khalid Straker (CNYCN), David Zlutnick (Impact Justice), Paul Toohey (cdcb)
Editors: Lourdes Kalusha-Aguirre, Dan Winckler
Post-production Audio: Chris Burke
Project Manager: Susan Lanier
To learn more about how we can help your organization, get in touch.