We focus on deepening understanding around how meaningful place-based change happens, what gets in the way of those efforts, and what we can do to collectively get unstuck. To support those kinds of efforts, we collaborate with organizations across the country on projects that get to the questions they need answered to get equity work done. We conduct focused research projects to find out what’s happening at both community and national levels. We support the design and implementation of learning communities and communities of practice that help support practitioner and resident curiosity and forward movement. We facilitate strategy at project, organization and sector levels. Even for projects that are inward-facing, we work with our partners to find ways to share things with the broader world so that we can inform the learning, research and strategy of others who are fighting the good fight.

We partner with organizations across the United States that are value-aligned – those that really want to understand how change happens in place and how we move that change in more just directions. Some of our deepest engagement happens in community development, arts and culture and philanthropy, but the main thing we’re looking for in our partners – and that we think we can offer back to them – is an orientation toward valuing and resourcing grassroots change at the community level. We’re particularly interested in projects that connect the hyperlocal to the nation, whether doing national field scans that can inform how work is happening close to the ground or building up learning infrastructure on the ground that could offer important lessons across the country.

We believe in ethical work. We strive to be transparent in how we work and make as much of our work publicly accessible as possible. We explore the potential for unintended harm with our partners. When we engage with interviewees and focus groups, we disclose how we’re gathering information and how it will be used. We prioritize being clear about what information is confidential and what information can be made publicly visible. We compensate people for their time and for the wisdom they share.  

We believe in just work. We always consider the ways that marginalization continues to hold us all back, especially through structural racism. We start every project by naming what our biases might be and develop a plan to safeguard against them. We seek out and center the voices of people who have important things to share but are rarely asked. We focus on narratives, histories and policies that shape current inequities and how disrupting them might open up our collective imagination. We create publicly available resources so that people and organizations can guide their own learning and strategy processes, rather than have to rely on outside service providers. 

We believe in centering curiosity in work. We try to remain open in our thinking and create space for others to explore their own questions and structure their own learning. We name how our own thinking is shifting over time and welcome others to do the same. We emphasize applied learning, facilitating processes where folks have an opportunity to test their concepts in real time, in concrete ways and without a big financial investment. We develop resources and processes that can support practitioners and residents in lifelong learning and in bringing curiosity into collective learning work. 

We believe in valuing trust in work. We recognize that community change is definitionally relational. We look for opportunities to connect people not just around work but around community. We support research and learning that allows people to show up like human beings, rather than have to live up to artificially academic standards. We actively consider participant supports like translation access, meeting settings and financial stipends. We recognize and address the fact that practitioners and residents are experiencing loneliness and isolation. We facilitate meetings and processes centered around the joy of community work but without skipping over the harm and burnout that participants may be experiencing. 

We believe in courageous work. We’re prepared to name difficult things and to facilitate difficult conversations … and to do it in ways that still welcome people into a long-term coalition in support of community change. We help partners work through challenging feedback and move their work toward positive, concrete responses. We focus on learning that increases practitioners’ and residents’ collective energy and resolve. We prioritize building resources that people say they need in order to do their best work for the long haul.