DC PCI: Stories That Support Families

The DC Pritzker Children’s Initiative wanted to help families understand and connect with support from pregnancy through a child’s earliest years. Our challenge was to make that information feel clear, welcoming, and grounded in the lives of the people it was meant to reach.

The work included communities in Wards 7 and 8, where DC Health reported the District’s highest infant mortality rates for 2016–2020. That context made listening essential. We needed to understand families’ experiences, questions, and expectations before deciding how their stories should look and sound.

We began with research, interviews, and audience polling, then brought scripts and illustration styles into focus groups with people participating in the programs. Their feedback helped shape the language, characters, and visual direction.

As Creative Director, I wanted families to recognize themselves in the work. Skin tones, hairstyles, family relationships, neighborhood details, and language all mattered. We used culturally responsive storytelling to connect useful information with familiar experiences, carrying that approach through the English and Spanish materials.

Creative Director, working with Hatcher’s multidisciplinary team.

Hatcher, in collaboration with the DC Pritzker Children’s Initiative, the Pritzker Children’s Initiative of the Pritzker Family Foundation, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), GMMB, and SPACEs In Action, alongside DC community and health partners.

HealthySteps DC creative credits: Reece Quiñones, Creative Director; Debbie Rappaport, Art Director; Annette Allen, Designer; Scott Cooper, Animator; Shaun Rosa, VO Director. View the published project credits.

One focus-group moment has stayed with me. I remember a father describing how closely a character’s hair and skin tone matched his own, and how moved he was to see himself represented. I’m paraphrasing his response, but I have never forgotten what it meant.

That is why I loved this project. Listening gave us the chance to create something families could recognize and connect with. It also showed what is possible when creative teams, community organizations, and health partners bring their perspectives together.