OUR CHANCETN

There's a trap built into how America helps working families. It's called the benefits cliff. A parent takes a better job, earns a raise, and loses more in SNAP, childcare, housing, or Medicaid than the raise was worth. The math punishes them for climbing. For millions of families, the system quietly rewards standing still.

Our Chance TN is Tennessee's answer — a transitional benefit that holds steady as income rises, so a raise stays a raise and a better job stays a better job. It's the first program of its kind in the country.

The brand had to speak in three directions at once. To the families using it, it had to feel like something built for them, not handed to them. To legislators and funders, it had to feel rigorous enough to expand. To the public, it had to make a wonky policy idea land in under five seconds — you shouldn't get poorer for working harder.

The identity centers on a single mark: a cluster of three shapes cradling a small open circle at the top. A person, held up. A net. A community close enough to catch you. The logo reads as both figure and flower — arms out, growing. Every graphic element in the system extends that same language of connection: circles that bridge, cluster, and support each other across the brand.

I chose to let the families be the ones speaking. Not the agency. Not the logo. The people climbing would tell the story, and every piece of the brand — every photograph, every video, every voice on social — would carry their words, not ours.