Our Work

We offer a rich and wide range of capabilities to solve communications challenges and advance our clients’ impact.

Communications Strategy

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Messaging Development

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Amplification & Promotion

Our Clients

Stylized logo with blue and orange geometric shapes forming the letter A.
Betsy's Blankets logo with turquoise background and pink and white text
Sign for Good Roots, neighborhood plant shop with a tiger logo, surrounded by various potted plants and a colorful abstract painting in the background.
Logo of Chicago State University featuring a stylized tree and the text 'Chicago State University 1867'
Logo of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, established in 1912, featuring a stylized image of Rosalind Franklin's face within a circular emblem, with the university's name and founding year.
Logo of the Intuit Art Museum on a dark blue background.

Our current and past clients are doing good in the world by advancing arts and culture, education, and health initiatives.

Logo with a stylized writing instrument and abstract arrow design next to the text 'Advance Illinois' in orange and navy blue.
Logo for Brookfield Zoo in Chicago featuring the word 'BROOKFIELD' at the top, stylized orange lions in the middle, and 'CHICAGO' at the bottom.
Logo of the Greater Washington Community Foundation with stylized green and blue letters and text.
Logo with a stylized blue square and the word 'mentor' in dark blue text.
Logo for The Nate, Nathan Manlow Sculpture Park with the text in gold, green, and black.
Text-based graphic reading 'After School Matters' in gray and purple font.
Logo for Indianapolis Public Schools with large white letters 'IPS' and silhouettes of students and city skyline inside the letters, and the words 'Indianapolis Public Schools' to the right on a blue background.
Chicago Public Schools logo featuring a silhouette of three children walking in front of a school building
The image is the logo of Fox News, featuring the word 'FOX' in bold black letters with the word 'NEWS' in smaller black letters underneath, set against a background with a blue top and an orange to red gradient at the bottom.
Logo of Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) with a stylized globe symbol divided into blue and green sections and the text 'MEEA' and 'Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance'.
Logo of Terra Foundation for American Art, featuring geometric white shapes on a yellow background with the words 'terra Foundation for American Art'.
Logo of Children's Hospital of Chicago with a blue hand symbol and text in black and blue.

Project Portfolio

We have partnered with clients on countless communications projects ranging from developing large integrated campaign plans to executing smaller project management support.

Two young men wearing purple shirts with hashtag #TeensMATTER in white text, standing side by side with one arm around each other's shoulders in a community setting.

After School Matters

After School Matters is Chicago’s largest and a leading national provider of out-of-school-time programs for high school teens. MJ Strategic Communications supports the organization’s communications with everything from communications planning, media strategy and pitching, messaging, and additional day-to-day support.

  • For more than 15 years, dating back to Maureen’s days as an intern, MJ Strategic Communications has partnered with After School Matters to provide year-round support to showcase organizational and teen stories, drive teen participation, elevate thought leadership, and engage stakeholders and funders. Through integrated strategies—including media relations, messaging, digital, and storytelling—we spotlight the voices of teens, instructors, and alumni to demonstrate the impact of this nationally recognized organization.

  • Most recently, we’ve supported strategic planning and communications efforts surrounding the launch of a new teen programming facility in Cabrini Green. This includes messaging development, donor engagement strategies, collateral creation, and event planning to build excitement and investment around this major milestone. We also collaborate with the Research & Evaluation team to amplify insights from the organization’s annual teen survey, which shares powerful narratives about the lived experiences of Chicago youth. 

  • Our work has been instrumental in recruiting teens from across the city, with a deliberate focus on engaging youth of color from low-income communities. In 2023, this work captured the attention of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, leading to a two-day visit centered on youth mental health. MJ Strategic Communications supported the visit’s coordination and media efforts, resulting in a nationally broadcast NBC “Nightly News” segment that showcased the organization’s vital role in teen mental health and well-being.

A teacher and five young students in a classroom around a circular table with books and school supplies, with a colorful educational chart on the wall behind them.

Chicago Public Schools

Teach Chicago is a CPS initiative to help recruit and retain highly-qualified, diverse teachers for every classroom across the district. Over the course of more than four years, our team has developed and implemented a comprehensive communications campaign to help launch and support the initiative as well as the programs within it.

  • Starting in 2018, MJ Strategic Communications started working with the Chicago Public Schools Talent Office to build and implement a comprehensive communications campaign to help launch and support Teach Chicago, which is the district's initiative to help recruit and retain a highly qualified, diverse teachers for every classroom across the district.

  • Our team worked closely with the Talent Office to help build the overall communication strategies to support these programs, starting with developing messaging and running point on project and task management to make sure milestones were met on time.

    We collaborated with the communications team on earned media opportunities and press events. We wrote content for a whole host of different collateral materials to support outreach and recruitment, press materials, digital paid social media campaigns, grassroots and outreach thought leadership, and much more.

  • Chicago Public Schools has achieved remarkable progress in ensuring that students in low-income communities have equitable access to top teaching talent.

Group of six diverse people standing on a balcony inside a large, ornate building. Two people are holding signs that say 'It Takes Hope'. The group is smiling and dressed casually, with some wearing blue shirts with 'Hope Chicago' printed on them.

Hope Chicago

Hope Chicago is a groundbreaking economic mobility initiative that provides debt-free postsecondary education pathways for students—and their parents—from five partner high schools across Chicago’s South, Southwest, and West Sides. We support Hope Chicago in advancing its mission at every level–from coordinating a two-day advocacy and thought leadership trip to Washington D.C. to executing a robust State Capitol campaign.

  • Hope Chicago is redefining what’s possible for underserved communities by taking a family-centered approach to education and opportunity. With more than 2,000 students now enrolled in college or workforce programs (and counting!), the organization is actively reversing declining postsecondary enrollment trends and closing racial equity gaps.

  • To elevate Hope Chicago’s visibility and impact, MJ Strategic Communications develops a comprehensive communications plan focused on message development, media engagement, event support, and strategic storytelling. We help cement the organization as a national leader in educational access and economic advancement by securing 50+ media placements, building the CEO’s thought leadership platform, and amplifying key milestones—from major reports to student success stories.

  • Through an integrated social media strategy in partnership with Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, we dramatically increased Hope Chicago’s digital footprint, driving 500K+ engagements and growing the audience by 179% in just one year.

    Our efforts helped translate public awareness into policy wins, including securing the organization’s first public funding from the State of Illinois. Today, Hope Chicago stands as a national model for innovative multigenerational educational reform—and we’re proud to be part of the movement.

Four diverse school children smiling and embracing each other with backpacks.

Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Since 2021, MJ Strategic Communications in partnership with Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications has served as trusted partners to the Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR) at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. As the agency of record, our team provides ongoing support managing a range of projects from planning and launching a new organizational website to developing communications strategies that amplify CCR’s impact statewide.

  • As the public health arm of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, CCR works to reduce mental health disparities through evidence-informed programs, civic advocacy, and community partnerships. A major focus of our work has been supporting CCR’s signature initiative, Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH)—a collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education. REACH is a statewide, evidence-informed initiative to provide educators with tools to support the resilience and well-being of students and staff.

  • In 2024, we helped expand the REACH program into Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI), leading the naming, branding, messaging, and statewide rollout of the initiative in partnership with ISBE and the Governor’s Office. RSSI is a free and voluntary support that uses school-specific data to connect educators with evidence-informed tools and resources to improve the mental health and well-being of their school communities. Our support included crafting materials, guiding messaging, and coordinating with lobbyists and stakeholders to promote sustainability.

  • In tandem with the program’s rollout, our team developed and executed a targeted advocacy and media strategy that helped secure the program’s first-ever state funding allocation in FY25 and then continued support in FY26.  Our work ensures that educators, administrators, and policymakers across Illinois understand and invest in the tools needed to support mental health in every school community.

Let's create together

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Let's create together ✴︎