Strategic communications for government agencies, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations doing work that matters.
Your
work
matters.
Let’s
explain
why.
Services
Message Development
Develop the core narrative, message hierarchy, and audience-specific language that makes your work clear, credible, and persuasive to the people who need to hear it.
Issue & Campaign Strategy
Build a rollout plan that sequences your communications for maximum impact — identifying the right messengers, stakeholders, and strategies for media, lawmakers, and the public.
Advisory & Counsel
Senior communications judgment on a project basis. For organizations that have the capacity to execute but need experienced guidance on what to say, when to say it, and how.
Policy-to-Public Translation
Specialized help turning complicated policy, program, or government material into language real people can understand and act on. Particularly useful for health, finance, and public benefit programs.
Writing Support
As-needed assistance drafting press releases, op-eds, testimony, speeches, talking points, and statements for when it’s worth the extra effort to find the right words.
Editing & Review
A senior eye on a draft that isn’t quite working. Clear feedback on what’s landing, what isn’t, and how to fix it. With guidance so your internal staff can grow.
Every leader and organization has a unique mission and a unique voice. Customize your project based on your needs.
About
Tyler Van Buren
Hey, I’m Tyler. In 2009, needing a brief reprieve from my career as a recording engineer, I took a temporary job working in the mail room of the State Capitol. Between printing flyers and alphabetizing letterhead, I got hooked on the purpose and potential of policymaking.
In the years that followed, I took on any project that advanced the mission of passing good laws and helping others — videography, graphic design, web design, and communications for the House Democratic caucus. I joined the staff of former Connecticut Comptroller Kevin Lembo, first as Director of Digital Media and later as his Director of Communications. I held the same title under Lembo’s successor, Natalie Braswell, and Connecticut Treasurer Erick Russell.
As a senior advisor and spokesperson for two state agencies, I advised on agency direction and decision-making and represented state government publicly on issues of spending, budgeting, borrowing, and investing tens of billions of dollars.
In my time in state government, I helped launch MyCTSavings, Connecticut’s first-of-its-kind statewide retirement security program. I led communications for Hero Pay, the state’s emergency relief program for essential workers during the pandemic. I was central to the public fight for a state health care option. I oversaw all communications and marketing for the health, dental, and pharmacy plans serving over 250,000 state employees and their families. And I designed and executed the communications strategy that led to the creation of CT Baby Bonds, the first anti-poverty program of its kind in the nation.
I have had the great fortune to serve on the leadership teams of three historic officials. Kevin Lembo was Connecticut’s first LGBTQ statewide elected official. Natalie Braswell was the first Black person to serve as State Comptroller. Erick Russell is the first out LGBTQ Black person to win a statewide election in American history.
Since leaving government, I’ve built a strategic communications advisory practice focused on the work I find most valuable — helping government agencies, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations develop clear, credible communications strategy for the issues that matter. I specialize in health, finance, and public policy: the kinds of programs and initiatives where getting the message right makes a real difference in people’s lives.
If you’re doing work that matters and need someone who’s been in the room to help you say it right, I’d love to talk.
Shout if you need me.
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