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In 2021, Stateside Affairs was involved in a complete website overhaul for the Housing Authority of the City of Elizabeth. As housing authority websites tend to be, the existing website was antiquated, difficult to navigate, and not very visually appealing. In addition, HACE was utilizing a complicated content management system that hindered them from being able to make updates. Stateside Affairs CEO Cristina Pinzon, Social Media and Public Relations Manager LisaMarie Gaeta, who served as the account manager for HACE, and Web Developer Mike Darche spearheaded this website overhaul and transitioned HACE to WordPress complete with redirects to account for the renaming of pages from the old website layout. To showcase the faces behind HACE, General Manager Laura Gaviria and LisaMarie organized a photoshoot of senior staff and commissioners, and their headshots were added to the corresponding pages. LisaMarie also provided social media and media relations services to HACE to bolster its communications with residents and the media. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] Another component of the website was ensuring users had the latest information on COVID-19 updates, which can be seen above the navigation bar on the website. HACE’s low-to-middle-income families and senior citizen residents as well as community partners needed to be able to find information on the website easily. The website overhaul resulted in a fresh new look with graphic designs/media/video elements, refreshed written content across all webp ages and new press release content, new subpages under two new interactive portals, two additional main menu web pages and several new subpages, and overall increased visibility of all of the housing authority’s community efforts and offerings.
Our team was responsible for adding a new interactive portal to the website for HACE’s Jobs Plus program, as well as the campaign’s branding assets which included HACE’s Jobs Plus branding, marketing collateral, and the production of an overview video about the program. The portal prominently displays the Jobs Plus overview video. At the end of 2022, LisaMarie also added a new interactive portal to the HACE website for their newest initiative, YouthBuild Elizabeth. The team’s Graphic Designer Pablo Lampion developed the campaign’s branding assets including the YouthBuild Elizabeth logo and marketing collateral.
LisaMarie’s background in usability design and website development as she worked alongside our website developer Mike Darche helped us transform HACE's outdated website to a user-friendly and eye-catching one you see today at hacenj.com.
LisaMarie’s leadership on HACE’s Jobs Plus awareness campaign resulted in residents being recruited for the program and ultimately being offered employment. Here are just two of the press releases LisaMarie wrote on the topic. HACE was also afforded a variety of press release coverage, which contributes to SEO efforts, including features on HUD's website, News 12 New Jersey, and an exclusive video interview with Telemundo, all featured on the news page of the website. HACE even commended us in a video testimonial that speaks to the value she provided working with them in 2021.
Nomination Title: The Housing Authority of the City of Elizabeth: HACENJ.COM
