Building

The Collaborative provides a wide variety of training and tools to help communities sharpen their skills and better manage their efforts. We have developed extensive curriculum on a variety of subjects that include: leadership, board training, nonprofit development, strategic and business planning, and asset management. One of our most requested trainings is “Learning the Seeds of Solutions System to Get to the Root and Change People’s Minds.” An overview of that program can be dowloaded here.

Effective communications requires more than just a catchy tagline. The Capacity Collaborative understands that in order to effectively engage our target, we first need to understand the audience. Our Communications curriculum was developed to take participants from understanding why their message may not be well received, to how they can reframe their story to make an impact. We also offer a suite of engagement tools to help communities access important stakeholder information.

The Collaborative was selected by American Geophysical Union's Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX) as their first partner to lead a regional community science hub. Focused on environmental justice communities in the Southeastern U.S., the Collaborative recruited and helps manage 12 projects using an established TEX community science process to carry out 18-month projects. By partnering experienced scientists with local leaders, the scientific process helps communities better understand environmental impacts, and then use project outcomes to develop grant proposals for funding long-term solutions.

From the basics of organizing people and resources to developing Community Benefits Agreements, the Collaborative provides guidance and assistance for communities at any stage to make the most of relationships. Inspired by complex processes in Nature such as communication networks in forest ecosystems and self-organizing bee colonies, we facilitate place-based asset analysis and skill-building to develop resilient strategies for local success. Community organizing frameworks such as the Just Communities Protocol are part of our toolkit to support sustainable development.