As part of a live case study competition, Emmanuel students worked with HousingWorks, Inc., on a comprehensive marketing and strategy analysis.

Located in the Symphony neighborhood of Boston, HousingWorks “aims to reduce or eliminate barriers to subsidized, affordable, and special needs housing” by connecting users, advocates, providers and governmental agencies through their data platform. Students were tasked with developing ideas for increasing marketing efforts to each of their constituencies, combatting misinformation in the marketplace about the existence of HousingWorks data and developing alternatives for generating revenue from their unique database of more than 20 years of history on the Massachusetts low-income housing market.

Student assisted HousingWorks by providing targeted communications and marketing strategies to increase awareness among housing providers, those seeking low-income housing and housing advocates. Further, students developed strategies for increasing the awareness of the value of HousingWorks comprehensive data on low-income housing in Massachusetts and created frameworks for monetizing access to this data.

"We did about $50,000 more in business this last fiscal year and as of this summer have five major new clients, so next year’s fiscal outlook will be even better. I feel like the student competition really helped in making us step out of our habits and think more creatively. And I loved the experience."

John LaBella, HousingWorks Co-Founder