The Better Food Policy Fund piloted a new model of participatory grantmaking. I facilitated a process that reduced burden, built trust, and shifted the tone of philanthropy toward fairness, joy, and shared ownership.
The Better Food Policy Fund was co-developed with food policy councils nationwide. I designed trauma-aware, participatory processes that built trust, celebration, and shared ownership across the field.
The Better Food Policy Fund launched as a participatory grantmaking fund, with inclusive governance at its core. This case study shows how I designed board development and facilitated the Independent Advisory Committee, building trust, shared leadership, and decision-making practices that reflected the fund’s values.
The Wave Effect was a seven-month collaborative leadership development program. With reflective practice, trauma-aware facilitation, and emergent design, participants shifted from cautious leadership to collaborative, adaptive approaches, building resilience, confronting power, and embracing systems thinking to shape healthier community patterns.
In complex work, passion isn’t enough. In this piece, I share how the 4Ps - People, Purpose, Process, and Presence - became a compass for navigating systems change.
Attending to people means more than who’s invited. Here I share stories of inclusion, leadership, and how creating space for others makes collaboration possible.
Without shared purpose, groups stall. In this piece, I reflect on how co-creating and tending to purpose brings clarity, momentum, and resilience in complex work.
Process shapes how groups move from talk to action. Here I reflect on how thoughtful design and adaptation build trust, ownership, and lasting collaboration.
Pace shapes the rhythm of change. Here I reflect on urgency, patience, and how sensing the natural cadence of groups helps trust and collaboration grow.
A story of quiet leadership and complex systems. In a coastal North Carolina community shaped by deep pride and layered trauma, I helped seed conditions for connection, healing, and change - by holding a container, honoring resistance, and working gently at the edges of what could be spoken.