For the Love of Third Ward: An Interview with Marc Furi

Hear from artist Marc Furi on how branding and art have helped bring attention to Houston's Third Ward.

How Marc Furi turned his love of art and his city into a local movement

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH: WHERE OUR PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE COLLIDE

American history is Black history. This February, we're celebrating how our nation's past—and future—is tied to the Black experience.

Welcome to the first day of February and the first day of Black History Month in 2021. 

Last week (read: for the last two months), all eyes were on Georgia as they decided who controlled the senate for the first two years of President Elect Joe Biden’s administration. Georgia has been a red state since 1992, so its sudden flip to blue came as a shock to many. 

An Ode to Grassroots Organizers

The key to a free and fair democratic system is making sure that everyone can vote.

Giving Tuesday has raised a lot of eyebrows at Black Sheep over the years. But nonprofits are in dire straits across the country—and it's time to think through how we can give back when we're tapped out from 2020.

#GivingTuesday2020

We were over it. Now it's all we can think about.

Condensed

A government official outreach guide for student activsts

How do I contact elected officials?

A student activist’s guide to making connections that create social change.

If you are feeling overwhelmed right now, you are not alone. Let this year's World Mental Health Day be both a celebration of those invisible milestones and a reminder that help is out there and there is no shame in seeking it out.

Have You Considered Therapy?

There’s a meme circulating that says something along the lines of: When I tell you to go to therapy, I don’t mean that I think you’re crazy. I mean that I think you deserve someone to listen to you, without judgment, and help you process your feelings.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved the way for women across the country to become architects of their own success—and encouraged us all to never give up on a good fight.

Here's to a Heroic Fight

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a hero of ours at Black Sheep, for obvious reasons. Without her work, quite frankly, who knows if Black Sheep would exist. 

Community activists of all types have used the symbol of the raised fist in many ways, but what does it mean

A Brief History of the Raised Fist

The clenched, raised fist. You’ve seen it before—on television and in movies, on posters, in textbooks, maybe even in-person at a rally. As a gesture itself, it holds no meaning. But, throughout history, a variety of communities have used it as a symbol of resistance and unity: a simple yet demonstrative act of rebellion against institutional oppression.

Stay informed. Don't be silent. Take action. #BlackLivesMatter

Let's talk—seriously.

Gun Violence Awareness Day: We (Still) Need to Talk OR You Need To Read This

Just as we’ve seen with COVID-19 death rates and instances of police brutality, gun violence disproportionately impacts the black community.

Why Gun Violence Awareness Day Matters In the Profound Year That Is 2020

This is the time of COVID-19 and increasing racial tension—and the connection between guns and public health is more tightly bound than ever.

Black and Tired.

If There’s A Will, There’s A Chance

How deeply entrenched social norms can mean silence for women.

Adjusting for the Unjust

Improving voter access with community engagement and the Harris County Clerk's Office

Vote Your Way campaign

Harris County wants you to Vote Your Way and so do we.

Being black and loving your natural hair.

Our Crown and Glory

A Digital Treatise on #NeverEverEverEndingGivingTuesday

This technology affects humans, what to know in 2020

Tech updates like “Meat Made Out of Air”, “DNA Warrants” and Other Things

Meat Made Out of Air, DNA Warrants and Other Things 

Why are we changing maps?  (from The West Wing)

Last weekend, under a threat from ICE officials of upcoming raids, I gathered with hundreds of other activists to protest the following: immigration detention facilities, separation of families at the border, treatment of asylum seekers at the border, unsafe and inhumane conditions at the facilities at the border and the aforementioned ICE raids.

The World Wasn’t Made with Borders.

40,000 People Need Us To Think Differently About Gun Violence

Gun violence. “We need to turn this over to science and take it away from politics.”

B-Corp Declaration of Interdependence As Told by a Few Rebellious Black Sheep

90,000. A number we’re a bit obsessed with that represents how many hours, on average, people spend at work in their lifetime.

There’s a particular kind of project that doesn’t feel like a project.

It feels like something else entirely. Over Black Sheep’s 16 years, we’ve learned to recognize these engagements — the ones where the stakes are real, where the mission is load-bearing, where getting the story right genuinely changes what’s possible for the people an organization serves. We’ve also learned that these are the projects we want to fill our days with.

Right now, our roster is full of them. I want to talk about that — not as a highlight reel, but as a reflection of what we believe this work is for. And if you’re leading one of these organizations right now and it feels heavy or uncertain or like your story isn’t keeping pace with your mission, this is for you too.


Some projects aren’t a single scope — they’re a relationship, built over time, through the kind of trust that only comes from doing hard things together.

Houston Arts Alliance is in one of the most pivotal moments in its history. A new CEO — the first woman and person of color to lead the organization — has stepped into a role that carries both enormous expectation and extraordinary possibility. We are building alongside them from the ground up: immediate messaging and leadership transition tools, a mission and vision refresh, a public education campaign, a community engagement process and a full brand foundation. Long, layered, listening-first work. Some of our favorite kind.

Houston Parks Board is marking its 50th anniversary at the start of an exciting new chapter — bold new leadership, a visionary strategic plan and a future that has been a century in the making. We’re evolving their brand to match the scale of that moment. Being trusted when the foundation is strong and the future is wide open is its own kind of honor.

Good Reason Houston is an organization we know well — we built their original brand in 2018, and they’ve called on us at several points of strategic inflection since. This is one of those moments. The world these leaders are navigating looks almost nothing like it did seven years ago, and our work together right now is about finding language that tells their story with clarity and confidence for where things are today.

Civic Builders finances and develops school facilities across the country, making excellent schools possible in communities where the need is greatest. We completed a full messaging and positioning strategy with them, and we’re now deep into their visual identity system — in genuine collaboration with their extraordinary internal team. This partnership is the kind we aspire to: the work belongs to all of us.

The Greater Houston Partnership is building an AI-powered tool to connect educators, employers and community partners in ways that expand workforce opportunity. We’re building the brand that makes it accessible and credible from day one.

Fervo Energy is redefining what clean energy looks like. We are their strategic design agency — giving visual and creative form to the complexity of what they’re building, because a breakthrough technology deserves a story told with equal craft.

The University of Nevada, Reno trusted us to direct a digital campaign for their Black Youth Mental Health Initiative — designed to reach young people at the right moment, in the right channels and keep them connected to support that can change the trajectory of their lives. This follows our branding and strategy work for their CDC-sponsored Safer Nights opioid overdose prevention campaign last year.

The Center for Civic and Tech Life is now publishing a magazine for local election officials — the people who make democracy function at the ground level. We named and developed the publication’s visual identity, because this community deserves tools that reflect the seriousness of their work.

In collaboration with January Advisors, we’re working with the League of Women Voters Houston on a set of core values and a strategic plan built for what comes next. The League has been doing this work longer than most organizations have existed. Helping them articulate where they’re headed is not something we take lightly.

Much of this work is happening in Houston — the city where Black Sheep was founded, where many of us live and where we feel the stakes of these institutions personally. When you’re a Houstonian working on Houston, it stops being a client list and starts being something else.

It takes something to make this call. The leaders we work with aren’t doing it because things are easy — they’re doing it because they’ve decided that a story that can’t carry the mission is a liability they can’t afford. That takes clarity about what’s actually at stake. It takes a willingness to look honestly at the gap between where you are and how you’re being perceived. And it takes the kind of courage that doesn’t always get named as courage — the quiet decision to invest in something foundational when there are a hundred urgent things competing for the same resources.

But the thread running through all of it — local and national — is the same: find the organizations doing the most necessary work, and make sure their story is strong enough to carry their mission forward.

If your organization is in a moment that demands more clarity, more confidence or a story that finally matches where you’re headed — we’d love to be in that room with you.

A reflection on 16 years of learning which projects are worth our days — and the mission-driven organizations we're building alongside right now.

The Work That Doesn't Feel Like Work | Black Sheep Agency

What it takes to build a story strong enough to carry a mission forward.

A reflection on the partnerships filling our roster right now — and what it takes for mission-driven organizations to build a story strong enough to carry their work forward.

The Black Sheep blog is turning up the volume on community engagement, social media strategy, Houston happenings and what it means to lead a purpose-driven life.

The Black Sheep Agency | Social impact and nonprofit blog

We like to type as much as we like to listen.

We're not shy.

The Work That Doesn’t Feel Like Work

For the Love of Third Ward