Turning community development research into accessible content

Overview

Rural Development Network (RDN) is a nonprofit that supports rural communities on issues including housing and homelessness. During my internship I wrote two articles exploring approaches to addressing homelessness in communities.

One looks at homelessness estimation as a first step for community action. The other explains how Reaching Home funding can support community-led responses, particularly in rural areas.

My contributions

Research and interviewing

• Researched homelessness, community development and funding topics.
• Conducted formal interviews with staff and subject-matter experts.
• Collaborated with RDN staff to develop article content.

Writing and editorial development

• Authored both articles published on the RDN website.
• Edited and proofread content in preparation for publication.

SEO and digital promotion

• Applied SEO and keyword optimization to support discoverability.
• Supported social media promotion of the published articles.
• Created graphics and other visual assets for communications activities.

Approach

Each article started with research and conversations with people who do this work every day. From there, my job was to translate policy and program language into something a community leader or concerned resident could read and act on, keeping RDN's expert voices at the centre and structuring the piece so it could be found through search.

Published work

• Why a homelessness estimation is your community's best first step to address homelessnessRural Development Network · Published October 30, 2023 (opens external site)
• How Reaching Home funding can help your community find solutions to address homelessnessRural Development Network · Published January 30, 2024 (opens external site)

Skills demonstrated

• Research
• Interviewing
• Long-form writing
• Editing & proofreading
• SEO & keywords
• Nonprofit communications
• Stakeholder collaboration
• Social promotion
• Visual content

Reflection

Combining research, storytelling and digital content to make complex topics accessible.

This internship gave me experience developing written communications around community-development issues, and strengthened my interest in explaining complex topics in an accessible way.

Evidence and limitations

About this case study: It reflects my recollection of my responsibilities and the two published articles. RDN's website doesn't display individual author bylines. Publication dates are as shown on RDN's site. I haven't verified quantitative performance results or specific audience outcomes.