Project Heart provides a safe, supportive environment for individuals and families navigating some of life’s most destabilizing challenges, including recovery, re-entry after incarceration, housing instability, and the difficult work of rebuilding their lives. Through peer mentorship, group meetings, housing navigation, employment support, community service, and re-entry services, we walk alongside people as they work toward stability, self-sufficiency, and renewed hope. In 2025, Project Heart directly served more than 400 individuals, equaling 6,000 touch points, throughout Nevada and Placer counties in Northern California. Because many of those individuals have children and families, the reach of our work extends much further.

Print communication plays an important role in helping us accomplish this mission. While digital communication is valuable, many of the people we serve are experiencing circumstances that can make digital access inconsistent. Some do not have reliable internet service, regularly use email, or know where to begin looking online for help. A printed piece can be placed directly into someone’s hands, carried home, shared with a family member, or kept until that person is ready to reach out. For our clients, print is not simply promotional; it can be a tangible and reassuring connection to help.

Project Heart currently uses printed brochures, rack cards, program flyers, business cards, event invitations, sponsorship materials, giving cards, and informational handouts. These materials are distributed through our offices, community events, partner organizations, service providers, and direct contact with individuals and families. Our program flyers help people learn about group meetings, mentoring, financial education, community activities, and other forms of support. Our general brochure gives clients, families, referral partners, donors, and community members a clear overview of who we are and how to connect with us.

We have also developed specialized printed materials for particular audiences. Our landlord and property-management partnership materials explain how Project Heart supports clients seeking stable housing while also helping participating property owners protect their investments. Separate materials help prospective employment partners understand how they can provide meaningful opportunities to people rebuilding their lives. Corporate sponsorship pieces allow local businesses to see how their support can strengthen Project Heart’s programs and community events. Each printed piece is designed to connect a specific audience with a meaningful way to participate in our mission.

Print has become especially important as Project Heart expands its fundraising and community-awareness efforts. We are preparing to introduce “Hope Has an Address,” a short documentary film that shares the heart of Project Heart through personal stories of recovery, re-entry, hope, and transformation. Printed invitations and documentary cards will direct recipients through QR codes to watch the trailer, RSVP for the film premiere, view the film, learn more about Project Heart, and make a gift. This approach creates a bridge between a physical piece that can be kept and shared and a digital experience that can deepen the recipient’s connection to our mission.

Project Heart also holds an Annual Holiday Celebration for the people and families we serve. This is much more than a seasonal dinner. For many attendees, it offers a rare opportunity to experience dignity, belonging, joy, and connection during a time of year that can otherwise intensify loneliness and hardship. We plan to use printed invitations to encourage attendance and printed table tents with QR codes to give guests, sponsors, and community members an unobtrusive opportunity to help support the event and Project Heart’s continuing work. Donor response cards and event materials will help us tell the story of why the celebration matters and invite people to become part of the hope it creates.

Although we have used print consistently, our use of direct mail has been limited by cost. Until recently, Project Heart did not have a formal development program or the resources to conduct strategic donor outreach. We are now building that capacity and would like to use direct mail in a more intentional and measurable way. Our plan is to develop targeted mailings for current donors, prospective supporters, local businesses, community partners, landlords, employers, and people who have attended or expressed interest in our events.

Rather than sending generic mass mailings, we intend to create focused communications for specific audiences. A donor mailing could include a personal letter, a concise impact piece, a response card, and a reply envelope. A documentary mailing could invite recipients to attend a screening or watch the film online. A business mailing could introduce Project Heart’s sponsorship or employment-partnership opportunities. A year-end mailing could share a story of transformation, report meaningful results, and invite the recipient to make a one-time gift or join Heart Circle, our monthly giving community. QR codes and dedicated response links would allow us to track engagement and understand which messages are most effective.

A print grant would allow Project Heart to move from producing small quantities only when an immediate need arises to implementing a coordinated print and direct-mail strategy. It would help us create consistent, professional materials that reflect the dignity of the people we serve and communicate the quality and importance of our work. It would also allow us to direct more of our limited unrestricted funds toward services while still building the donor and community relationships necessary to sustain those services.

Most importantly, a print grant would help Project Heart place the right message into the hands of the right person at the right moment. That person may be an individual searching for help, a family member who does not know where to turn, a landlord willing to offer someone a fresh start, an employer ready to provide an opportunity, or a donor discovering that they can become part of someone’s journey toward a healthier and more stable life.

Print gives our mission something people can see, hold, remember, and share. With Conquest Graphics’ support, Project Heart could extend that connection throughout our community, reach people who may not find us digitally, strengthen participation in our programs, and invite more people to help make hope possible.