The Opportunity Campus
Making home happen by ending systemic homelessness in the Columbia area.
The Opportunity Campus is a first for the city of Columbia, but hopefully not a last.
Hope to the unhoused population.
The homelessness crisis cannot be overlooked any longer. Record numbers of individuals in the city of Columbia and Boone County are experiencing homelessness. With 237 documented sheltered and unsheltered individuals of Boone County, and more than 900 requests for housing and shelter through United Way’s 2-1-1 resource, the current systems are unable to support our homeless neighbors.
The Opportunity Campus is a 100-bed emergency shelter, community resource center, and medical clinic located in Columbia, MO. The shelter targets systemic homelessness, providing the unhoused population of Columbia with a place to feel physically and emotionally safe. Open 24/7 7 days a week, the campus gives security and comfort to the unhoused population without pressure. Taking a housing first approach, the Opportunity Campus believes that successes are attained when those experiencing homelessness are placed in permanent housing without any conditions for treatment or other barriers.
With an overarching goal of ending homelessness and poverty in the Columbia area, the Opportunity Campus brings multiple organizations together for the first time to offer comprehensive services to our unhoused neighbors through an all-in-one shelter, resource center, and medical clinic.
As an anchor in the Columbia community for more than 50 years, the Voluntary Action Center is the engine behind The Opportunity Campus. Hoot has a longstanding relationship with VAC, so we jumped at the opportunity to create a brand and concept for this important initiative. Together, we designed and implemented a campaign concept, website, executive summary, and brochure for The Opportunity Campus that encouraged community involvement and pushed the project forward.
A tagline designed for social change.
Creating a more equitable Columbia requires building community awareness. That is where we came in. Make Home Happen references the urgency of the homelessness, the need for intervention, and a call to action for community involvement. Language has the power to evoke emotion, and the Opportunity Campus’ success depended on the empathy and donations of Columbia residents.
Visuals that humanize.
The initiative to end homelessness is serious, emotional work, and the visuals needed to reflect that. A class white house works as the logo, reinforcing the concept without taking attention away from the broader goal. Visuals tell a story, and the Opportunity Campus visuals showcase a story of human belonging, safety, and comfort. These are basic necessities that everyone needs and deserves, and the Opportunity Campus eradicates housing as a barrier to achieving them.
Caring for community.
In creating a website and brochure, we called the community to action. Both VAC and Hoot know that our neighbors experiencing homelessness cannot be overlooked anymore. Homelessness is a systemic issue that requires comprehensive resources. Building resources that explain the project builds a foundation that, at any stage of the process from conceptualizing to building to opening, can be referenced for explanation and motivation. In the end, we are caring for the community, something that Columbia has always done well, and the Opportunity Campus is proof.
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