DESIGN & FACILITATION
Who
This service benefits organizations and teams seeking support with participatory processes or events. We partner with clients to create meaningful engagement in a range of contexts, from routine company retreats to complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives. Past clients include universities, nonprofits, foundations, NGOs, and government agencies.
What
We combine design and facilitation because these services are most effective when integrated. Design clarifies desired outcomes and creates a path to achieve them. Facilitation ensures participants connect, learn, and collaborate effectively. Our past projects have resulted in co-created community values, grantee feedback that shaped funding strategies, and published reports co-authored by academic leaders.
How
Our approach is shaped by years of experience leading collaborative, results-driven engagements, as well as the feedback we gather from participants throughout each process. Our designs balance structure and flexibility so conversations can flow naturally while staying goal-oriented. When we facilitate, we ensure all voices are heard, adapt in the moment when needed, and always end on time.
DESIGN & FACILITATION
SERVICES
While every engagement is unique, you can typically expect:
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Collaborative Design – co-creating a tailored approach with a representative individual or Design Team.
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Participant Engagement – facilitating conversations with key stakeholders to gather insights that inform design and clarify intended outcomes.
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Iterative Refinement – maintaining alignment throughout the project via regular communication and check-ins to allow for real-time adjustments and ensure the agenda reflects emergent insights.
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Relational Facilitation – guiding a participatory gathering of your stakeholders, either virtually or in person, to foster connection, elevate diverse perspectives, and achieve your intended outcomes.
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Strategic Documentation – synthesizing key insights into written summaries to support your next steps. ​​
PROJECT
EXAMPLES
HBCU STEM Undergraduate Success Research Center Convening & Collaborative Writing Process
We designed and facilitated a convening of leaders from a variety of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to capture insights and seed a collaborative writing process that would culminate in a co-authored edited volume. The purpose of the edited volume is to highlight a selection of essential components of highly impactful academic interventions for undergraduate STEM students at HBCUs. During the convening, participants ideated on the content of the edited volume and proposed chapters to write together. We summarized these conversations in a convening report to support the ongoing writing process. Participants are now co-creating the edited volume using the Open Science Framework (OSF) platform.
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This project was hosted by the HBCU STEM-US Center, whose mission is to understand and tell the stories of HBCUs through convergence research for us, and the nation; thereby, creating a national legacy of excellence in STEM education at HBCUs.
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Learn more about the HBCU STEM-US Center here.
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Client Experience:
"Amelia is the ultimate professional! She has a unique way of interceding at the appropriate times to provide thoughtful insights and/or disarm any arising dialogue conflicts in a way that is effective and productive! She does this while remaining in the background without becoming a part of the ongoing exchange.
Using the ‘network approach’, she was masterful with helping us engage and navigate our convening in real collaborative discourse! She’s amazing!"
— Mark A. Melton, PhD
President, Melton Consultants & Investments, LLC
Webinar Coordinator & Consultant,
HBCU STEM Undergraduate Success Research Center​​
Community Vision for Skyline Forest
Our team partnered with the Deschutes Land Trust to design and facilitate a process to gather community priorities for Skyline Forest, a 33,000-acre forest between Bend and Sisters, Oregon. Our work included establishing an inclusive design team of community members, conducting interviews, drafting project communications, designing and facilitating an in-person gathering, and synthesizing process outcomes into a written document.
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The Land Trust leverages the insights and relationships established during this process to inform future management decisions. They have since successfully replicated the process in new communities.
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View the final document: Skyline Forest Community Vision
The Deschutes Land Trust conserves and cares for the lands and waters that sustain Central Oregon, so local communities and the natural world can flourish together for generations to come.
Learn more about the Deschutes Land Trust here.
Client Experience:​
​​"Amelia helped us develop a thoughtful and replicable process through which we developed a “Community Vision” for our project. This framework allowed us not only to understand what the community wanted, but also why it was important to them. As we move forward with this project, this Community Visioning tool has helped us create buy-in and collect valuable information to guide our future management decisions. In addition, we were able to replicate the process on another project and plan to use it each time we expand our work into a new community. I can’t speak highly enough about Amelia and her incredible skill as a communicator, facilitator and thought partner. I would recommend her to any organization looking at finding meaningful ways to engage the community in their work."
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— Rika Ayotte
Executive Director, Deschutes Land Trust