I firmly believe that people with lived experience and expertise should be at the center of the work we do to solve community issues. It can be challenging to engage people in a way that feels good and empowering, rather than tokenizing or decorative. We need to build spaces that allow for sustainable and authentic leadership and engagement. I have worked with communities across the country to provide facilitation, training, consultation, and ongoing strategizing to support these efforts - and I can help you and your community as well.
Services
Facilitation - Design and facilitate meetings and focus groups that are engaging and well-run, and feel like secure environments to discuss sensitive or controversial topics.
Gathering Data - Conduct interviews with community stakeholders to gather data and community input to provide a richer understanding of community needs.
Event Planning - Support and provide consultation on the organizing and planning of events that authentically center people with lived experience.
Program Evaluation - Provide detailed recommendations for programmatic and structural improvements to better support successful outcomes in engaging stakeholders and people with lived experience.
Strategic Coaching - Provide ongoing or one-time consultation and support for agencies and organizations seeking to engage people with lived experience in decision making.
Structural Development - Provide consultation and support to create or to re-structure a sustainable board of people with lived experience (such as a Youth Action Board).
Trainings and Workshops - Conduct trainings and/or workshops on the following topical areas:
Developing Partnership Agreements between Agencies/organizations and boards of people with lived experience
Understanding the experiences of youth homelessness
Best practices for working with youth with lived experience
Authentic engagement of people with lived experience
Respectful disagreements (between parties with an imbalance in power dynamics)
More trainings available upon request.
Educational Speaker - Guest speaker at special events, schools, college classes, and community meetings for the purpose of community education on homelessness and housing instability, youth leadership, and on engaging people with lived experience.