A proposal to amplify the voice, history, and future of Ohio's most resilient historically African-American community as it approaches 80 years of self-governance.
Lincoln Heights is not just a municipality. It is a declaration. When it was incorporated in 1946, it became one of the first self-governing African-American communities in the state of Ohio. That act of self-determination was not a beginning. It was a continuation of something that had always lived here.
As Lincoln Heights approaches 80 years, this community deserves communications that match the weight of that legacy. Not press releases. Not boilerplate social posts. Stories. Real ones. Told with dignity, consistency, and the kind of cultural fluency that only comes from genuine connection.
The Parks Collective Agency is here to listen first, serve the community's story, and build communications that residents recognize as their own.
Lincoln Heights residents are not a demographic to be targeted. They are storytellers, neighbors, elders, and young people building something. Our strategy starts with listening to them before we ever create content about them.
Before we post a single thing, we spend 7 to 10 days auditing your current digital presence, reviewing what has worked, and learning the community's communication habits. That knowledge shapes everything that follows.
From social media management to crisis communication, every deliverable is designed to serve your staff, your council, and most importantly your residents. No silos. No hand-offs. One strategist accountable from kickoff to council presentation.
Every piece of content we create for Lincoln Heights will be built on three foundational commitments. Not pillars. Promises.
Every message residents receive from the Village should be immediate, plain, and trustworthy. Government communications fail communities when they speak in policy language. We translate. We simplify. We never condescend.
Trust is built by showing up. We establish a publishing rhythm and we protect it. Residents should know when to expect content and what it will feel like when it arrives. Predictability in communications builds confidence in leadership.
Lincoln Heights residents are not all in one place. Some are on Facebook. Some are in church bulletins. Some listen to radio. We meet people where they already are, using the same voice across every channel.
The single most important distinction in government communications is whether residents feel talked to or talked about. Our approach centers community voice in every initiative. Residents are not the audience for Lincoln Heights' story. They are the authors of it.
This means content that features real people, real moments, and real language. It means comment sections that are monitored and responded to. It means crisis communications that are honest before they are political.
And it means that when the 80th anniversary arrives, Lincoln Heights has a body of storytelling that reflects who its people actually are.
A signature storytelling initiative celebrating 80 years of community through the people who lived them.
★ Stretch Goal
Long-form profiles and video portraits of residents who remember Lincoln Heights before and after incorporation. Their stories are the Village's founding documents.
Spotlights on business owners, artists, coaches, and volunteers investing in Lincoln Heights today. These are the faces residents already know and trust.
Youth-centered content celebrating Lincoln Heights students, athletes, artists, and emerging leaders. When young people see themselves in Village communications, they belong.
Paired archival and contemporary photography of Lincoln Heights streets, buildings, and faces. A visual testament to resilience built for sharing and made for pride.
Most municipalities let milestone anniversaries pass with a proclamation and a photo. Lincoln Heights deserves a year-long storytelling campaign that builds toward the celebration, documents the moment, and creates an archive that outlasts it. Every post, every profile, and every piece of content becomes part of a permanent record of who this community is at 80.
All eight services are included in the monthly retainer. No add-ons. No surprises. One contract, one contact, full coverage.
Daily monitoring, content creation, and community engagement across Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor.
Regular updates keeping the Village website current, accurate, and accessible to all residents.
Professional design for announcements, events, and campaigns that reflect Lincoln Heights with dignity.
Quarterly communications planning tied to Village priorities, community calendar, and milestone moments.
Monthly resident newsletter designed for readability, consistency, and broad distribution.
Short-form storytelling video for social and web. Community voices, Village updates, event coverage.
Rapid-response messaging protocols with 24-hour availability for urgent Village communications.
Monthly performance summaries formatted for council review with plain-language insights.
Every great communications strategy begins with understanding. Here is how the first 60 days unfold.
A note on the audit period: We build in this listening phase because we believe every community has a communications personality that cannot be assumed. What works for a neighboring municipality may not work for Lincoln Heights. The audit protects your investment by ensuring our strategy is built on your reality, not a template.
Every strategy we propose is backed by work we have actually executed. Here is what that looks like.
When COVID-19 hit, Renee Mahaffey Harris brought The Parks Collective in to help the community make sense of what was happening. Renee provided the topics. We named the townhalls, wrote the broadcast copy, produced them for air, and moderated panels alongside Vice Mayor Lemon-Kearney with medical professionals, translating complex public health information into language Black Cincinnati could trust and act on.
That relationship deepened into an ongoing strategic partnership. We now serve as storytelling strategists for the organization, helping to sharpen messaging, align communications across demographics, and ensure that every public-facing initiative lands with the clarity and cultural resonance the community deserves.
Ebony came to The Parks Collective Agency in the middle of a major life transition, leaving corporate America to build a content creation brand from the ground up. She needed more than a logo. She needed a strategic foundation she could actually execute. We built her one: a complete brand ecosystem with narrative voice system, four content pillars, 30-day social media framework, visual identity direction, and a three-phase rollout campaign.
The results speak for themselves. Watch her content and you will see the strategy in action, clarity of voice, consistency of presence, and a woman who knows exactly who she is talking to and why.
As On-Air Personality, Assistant Program Director, and Music Director across multiple markets, our lead strategist built and maintained audience trust at scale. Served as brand ambassador for the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Insurance, American Heart Association, and Center for Closing the Health Gap.
Led community-facing broadcast campaign that raised over $800,000 for Norton Children's Hospital NICU families. This is what happens when communications are built on genuine community trust, people show up, and they give. Not a line on a resume. Proof of what civic storytelling can mobilize when it is rooted in real relationships.
The full scope of services is included in a single monthly retainer. What you see is what you get.
Most communications firms will study your community. I have already been in conversation with it for seven years.
As a broadcaster known to Cincinnati as Tropikana, I spent years in living rooms, cars, and morning commutes across this region building the kind of trust that cannot be manufactured. I know how Lincoln Heights residents communicate because I have been communicating with them. That is not a credential I can list on a resume. It is a relationship that changes the work.
Through The Parks Collective Agency, I bring 25 years of broadcast experience, strategic messaging expertise, and community engagement practice to every client. I have worked with state agencies, national health organizations, and local nonprofits. I have led crisis communications for the State of Ohio and helped raise $800,000 for NICU families. I know what it means to be accountable to a community, and I know what it costs when communications fail the people they are meant to serve.
I am not proposing to serve Lincoln Heights from a distance. I am proposing to be present, to listen first, and to build something that reflects who this community actually is as it moves toward its 80th year.
For 80 years, this community has led, built, grieved, celebrated, and persisted. The Parks Collective Agency is ready to make sure the next chapter is documented with the dignity it deserves. We are not here to give Lincoln Heights a voice. We are here to amplify the one it already has.