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Give your residents
the gift of good information
The Hometown Handbook is a done-with-you program for building your town's resident guide, finished by May 15. You get the award-winning template, a content kit that handles the department wrangling, and four working sessions alongside other towns doing the same work.
A 4-month cohort program
Your town's answers, in a guide residents keep.
First cohort starts January 15. Limited to 10 towns.
How do I get a trash bin?
Am I in town limits?
How do I report a pothole?
The answer to these questions is usually:
"Call Town Hall."
Custom guides cost too much for most small towns. And every town gets similar questions, so why solve them alone? We built a way to do it together.
Structured for South Carolina municipalities
We hold SC Statewide Term Contract 4400038373 for marketing services, so your procurement officer can approve this as a special one-time project. We also respond to RFPs. We're a certified women-owned business in South Carolina.
A Guide Built on an Award-Winner
Brightstocking helped write, design, and illustrate the Town of Bluffton, SC resident guide, which won a 3CMA Savvy Diamond Award.
What's a Savvy Diamond Award? Oh, it's just the best graphic design out of 1300+ submissions in 2026.
The guide has been held up as a national model for effective communications in graduate programs.
You get the same template and the same process. Ashley guides your team through every step, and Beegee helps with design. You build it with us, not alone.
3CMA Diamond Award Winner
(Judged by the people who do your job)
"A wonderful reference. A model that any municipality could adapt to fit its own community."
— legit feedback from an SC mayor
What One Guide Did:
Mailed to every household as a gift of information
24 pages, print-first, built to update & reuse
Reached more through realtors and POAs
Now taught as a model in graduate courses
4.7x engagement lift on social media
$1.10 per resident, all in (2025)
Residents sing the Town's praises (amen!)
See A Guide For Yourself
Flip to your heart's content!
Help staff help residents with a guide that explains it all.
Done with you, so your staff gets the win.
You know your town. We know how to turn that into a guide. Each month your team takes one step with the cohort, with Ashley leading and Beegee on design. Every session is recorded. Each session builds on the last, so nothing stalls and nobody falls behind. Calls are recorded and program work can be self-paced if you get too busy.
You'll work directly with Ashley (lead strategist) and Beegee (creative director).
Content Collection Kit
The kit tells you what to ask for and who to ask, so nobody's chasing departments.
Town History
Your Government
Annexation
Chain of Command
Maps
Town Events/Traditions
Who Handles What: Town/State/County
Fire/Police Departments
Ways to Get Involved
Building & Permits
POAs/HOAs
Parks and Rec
Town Boundaries
Department info
and so much more!
Which Package Is Right For You?
The Cohort Model
Done with you. Your team builds the guide with us and a small group of towns.
$4,750
A 50% deposit ($2,375) holds your spot once registration is open.
What's included
24-page handbook template in Canva, yours to reuse
The Content Collection Kit
One-to-one session with Ashley about your town and the best strategy for you
Four group working sessions, also recorded
Five hours of design time from Beegee once your copy is final. Extra time is $120 an hour. This is not a full custom design and does not include custom illustrations. We do as much as we can in five hours; with more time available at an hourly rate of $120.
Final proofread by a professional editor
We Do It All
Done for you. We write, design, and illustrate it.
$18,450
What's included
Everything in the Cohort Model, plus:
Custom 24-page handbook design in Canva, yours to reuse
Outreach assistance
1-on-1 strategy sessions
Copywriting
Design
1 custom illustration per page
What is NOT included
Printing
Mailing
Fact-checking (that's all you)
How We Get There:
Four Months, Start to Finish
January - Month 1
Kickoff
We’ll start with introductions and then walk you through how the process works from start to finish. You’ll get an overview of our content collection kit, which makes it easy to gather the information and materials we need from you. We’ll finish with homework and next steps, so you’ll know exactly what to do before we meet again.
February - Month 2
Content Collection
This is a hands-on working session. Together, we’ll continue the content collection, drafting the requests for the people and departments whose input we still need. Then we’ll send as many as we can right there in the meeting, so the requests go out the same day and nothing is left on your to-do list.
March - Month 3
Content Review
Once the responses are in, we’ll meet both individually and as a group to curate what we’ve gathered and get it into the template. We’ll go through what you have, flag any gaps, and decide what’s still needed. That way everyone is aligned on the content before we move into the final stage. The group working session will focus on getting the information you've gathered into the guide template.
April - Month 4
Final Review
With the content in place, Beegee and Ashley will spend a few hours cleaning things up before our final group meeting. We’ll present the finished copy and graphic design and tie up any final edits. After that, the draft goes to your department heads for review and approval, to your leadership team for final sign-off, and then to the printer!
Meet Your Team
Ashley Trexler
CEO & Lead Strategist
15+ years leading communications outreach
Started her career in real estate sales (she knows what SC residents get confused about)
Former election precinct manager (again, resident confusion expert)
Will die on the hill defending the em dash and oxford comma
Once grew a small wine-making school to the size of a winery
Applies results-oriented communications tactics inside nonprofit environments (why should for-profit biz get all the best ideas?!)
Beegee Tolpa
Co-Founder & Creative Director
Always designs for clarity, hierarchy, and persuasion
Parsons School of Design–trained illustrator turned designer. Clients include: Microsoft, Wall Street Journal, Chronicle Books, Nickelodeon, Penguin Publishing, Parents Magazine
Owns too many striped shirts and still uses a paper calendar (Redstone Diary forever!)
Prefers thoughtful design work over unnecessary meetings (she will never suggest “let’s just jump on a call”)
Refines obsessively until work feels solid and credible
No, she was not named after the disco group, but thanks for asking!
But don't just take our word for it
"Wowza!"
"Their personal investment in the final product was evident in every detail—from content accuracy to usability... I recommend them to any organization seeking strategic, community-focused communication support. "
- Debbie S., Municipal Communications Director
"Helpful and lovely"
"Every detail on every page is both helpful and lovely. Receiving this guide created with such care made me feel both valued and proud to be part of this community."
- Amy W., Bluffton resident and professional print designer
"Clear, welcoming, and grounded in service"
"From a broader, national perspective, I have not seen another municipal publication that so effectively combines clarity, completeness, and ease of use for the public."
- Mike Letcher, public administration professor, 30 years in municipal strategy
"Love"
"I love the Resident Guide and wish we had it when we moved in two years ago!"
- Carolina P., Bluffton resident
A handbook that works like a reference
and feels like home.
Good design earns residents' trust, and trust turns residents into town ambassadors. We start with the logo and branding you already have and help you build a handbook that could only belong to your town.
So Long:
Having no resource to direct inquiries to
The same five questions clogging Town Hall every day
Website searches that frustrate your citizens because they can't find answers
Newcomers who find out about trash day by missing it
Hello:
Residents who become informal town ambassadors
Residents who know where to turn before they pick up the phone
A fresh update to your town brand without changing a thing!
Clear and accessible information designed to be shared.
More trust and transparency.
And our
awesome clients
(who are also your colleagues!) say:
Debbie S., Communications Director, just like you!
We Know you need more details
Frequently Asked Questions
If the answer to your question isn't below, please reach out to us!
Who is the Hometown Handbook for?
Towns that want a resident guide but can't justify a fully custom one, and towns with a designer on staff who could use a plan, a deadline and a little prodding to finish. It's structured for South Carolina municipalities.
Why a cohort?
Most towns get the same resident questions. In a cohort, a good idea from one town helps every town, and a shared deadline keeps everyone moving. Plus, it keeps your expenses to a minimum.
What does it cost?
The Cohort Model is $4,750 per town. If you'd rather hand the whole thing to us, We Do It All is $18,450.
How does procurement work?
We're happy to submit an RFP. If your procurement officer okays it, you can also handle it as a special one-time project under our South Carolina State Marketing Services contract, Statewide Term Contract 4400038373. We're also a certified women-owned business in South Carolina.
When does it start, and when is our guide done?
The first cohort kicks off January 15. We meet once a month through April, and your guide is mailed by May 15.
How many towns are in a cohort?
The first cohort is capped at 10 towns.
How much staff time will this take?
Four two-hour group sessions, plus gathering content between them. A lot of the content collection kit asks for answers your staff already have or know exactly where to find.
What if we miss a session or fall behind?
Every session is recorded, and the program work can be self-paced if you get busy. If you can't finish this round, you can join the next cohort, space permitting.
What does the design time cover?
Five hours of Beegee's time, starting once your copy is final. She helps input your content, cleans things up and applies your brand kit. It isn't a full custom design and doesn't include custom illustrations. Need more time? It's $120 an hour.
Is printing included?
No. Printing, mailing and fact-checking are on your side. For a benchmark, Bluffton spent about $25,000 to print and mail 39,000 copies.
Can we reuse the template?
Yes. The 24-page handbook template lives in Canva, and it's yours to reuse and update.
Will our guide look like Bluffton's?
It starts from the same award-winning template, but we build from the logo and branding you already have, so it reads as your town's guide.
Who will we work with?
You work directly with Ashley, our lead strategist, and Beegee, our creative director.
How does payment work?
A 50% deposit ($2,375) secures your town's spot. The balance is due before the program launches in early January 2027.
What happens after we join the waitlist?
We'll notify you in late November with next steps.
Can towns outside South Carolina join?
Yes, they're welcome. We're happy to get a business license or any other qualifications needed to work with your municipality.
We're Ready. Are You?
Give your residents a gift.
Give your staff a win.
The first cohort starts January 15 and is limited to 10 towns.
Informed residents are more involved citizens.
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