DDM Strategies
A full-service communications shop to help you thrive in today’s landscape.
We all need a little help now and then. Joe Crocker gets by with a little help from his friends. With more than 20 years of experience in advocacy and strategic communications, DDM Strategies is available to not only help you get by, but to help you thrive.
I’m Dan Desai Martin and I’ve worked as an advocate, a communications consultant, and a journalist. I have expertise in national politics, state & local politics, voting rights, health care, climate change, reproductive health, education, and many other issues.
Through many years working at both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 nonprofit organizations, I am well-versed in coalition-building, paid and earned media, grant writing, budgets, and consultant management.
I’m also a writer. I’ve written one unpublished novel and I am working on a second.
What do you need to thrive? Odds are, DDM Strategies can help. I’ve written website copy, press releases, blog entries, op-eds, reports, news articles, grant proposals, grant reports, and helped prepare high-level staff for national media interviews. I’m active on social media (primarily Twitter and Facebook, with a burgeoning Instagram presence), and built this website using WordPress.
I want to help you and your organization not only meet the needs of the moment but surpass expectations.
And to fellow writers: I am happy to provide editing and proofreading services. Please use the same email below to inquire about various services.
If you are interested in working with me, please send an email with “Communications Consultant” in the subject line to: Dan (at) DanDesaiMartin (dot) com. Let’s chat. Let’s get to know each other. And if we’re a good fit, let’s thrive together.
Want to know a little more about me? Check out my resume. And here is a small selection of my writing:
The NewDEAL Leaders:
- It’s Not All About Trump. Republican Attacks on Democracy Are Local, Too (by Ron Nirenberg [Mayor of San Antonio] and Liz Walters [Summit County, Ohio, councilmember at-large and Chair of Ohio Democratic Party]. September 9, 2023. Newsweek.)
- The Hidden Harms of Dobbs Are Coming to Light (by NewDEAL Leaders CEO Debbie Cox Bultan. June 23, 2023. The Hill.)
- Michigan Used Federal COVID-19 Funds in Cities Across Michigan. Here’s How. (by Michigan Senator Mallory McMorrow and NewDEAL Leaders CEO Debbie Cox Bultan. March 18, 2023. Detroit Free Press.)
- Democracy Only Persists If We Work to Maintain It (by Montgomery County, PA, County Commissioner Ken Lawrence. March 7, 2023. The Philadelphia Inquirer.)
- Defending the 2024 Election Starts Now. Here’s How (by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. February 21, 2023. Newsweek.)
- 5 Indicators of the Health of Our Democracy (by NewDEAL Leaders CEO Debbie Cox Bultan. October 19, 2022. Governing.)
- Climate Change Is Our Generation’s Make-or-Break Moment (by New Hampshire state senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka. June 25, 2022. Concord Monitor.)
- NewDEAL Forum Launches National Initiative to Defend Democracy (May 2022. Press release announcing a new initiative.)
- The American Rescue Plan – One Year Later: Impact in the States (March 2022. A NewDEAL Leaders report on the impact of the American Rescue Plan.)
- Local Leaders Key to American Rescue Plan’s Success (by Rep. Suzan DelBene and Mayor Cassie Franklin. March 13, 2022. The Herald. Everett, Washington.)
- How Cities Can Use ARP Money to Heal the Wounds of the Past (by Mayor Levar Stoney. March 11, 2022. Governing.)
- Bridging the Digital Divide with American Rescue Plan Act Funding (by Mayor Trey Mendez. March 10, 2022. Route Fifty.)
The American Independent:
- HEALTH CARE:
- Most Rural Hospital Closures Are In States That Refuse To Expand Medicaid (February 6, 2020.)
- GOP Refusal to Expand Medicaid Puts Rural Areas At Risk During Pandemic (March 19, 2020.)
- Prescription Drug Costs Are Skyrocketing. The Senate Isn’t Doing Anything About It. (July 13, 2020.)
- VOTING:
- CAMPAIGNS:
- Arizona Senator Hit with Yet Another Fine For Yet Another Election Law Violation (August 21, 2019. I was the first to break this story on a second violation by then-Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ).)
- GOP Senator Loaned Her Own Campaign $5 million — And She’s Charging Interest (February 5, 2020. One day after I broke this story, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) refiled paperwork and no longer charged her campaign interest on the loan.)
- INTERVIEWS:
- ‘We Are Hungry to Win’: Democratic Leaders Can’t Wait for November (August 31, 2018. An interview with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), and Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), chair of the moderate New Democrat Coalition.)
- ‘They’re Afraid of Me’: Nancy Pelosi Smacks Down GOP’s Desperate Attacks (August 13, 2018. An interview with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.)
- Nancy Pelosi to Parkland students: ‘You give us hope’ (March 25, 2018. An interview with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglass following the mass shooting in Parkland, FL.)
DC Theatre Scene:
- Review: Second City’s America: It’s Complicated (June 22, 2019. The DC Theatre Scene.)
- Capital Fringe Review: The Breakup (July 11, 2019. The DC Theatre Scene.)
Other:
- Getting Free COVID-19 Test at Library Turns Out to be a Breeze (January 11, 2022. Source of the Spring.)
- Writing On Writing (My blog about the experience of writing a novel and trying to get it published.)
My reporting has been cited by:
- Daily Kos (July 25, 2020)
- Newsweek (February 12, 2020)
- Education and Labor Committee, U.S. House of Representatives (February 26, 2019)
- New York Magazine (September 13, 2019)
- Politico (July 11, 2018)