Modalities & Areas of Expertise
I've worked with 78 residential community groups as of this writing, and visited over 100. I also work with nonprofits, small businesses, government agencies, activists, and other organizations as a freelance facilitator, trainer, and organizational development consultant. My deepest expertise is in group skills (consensus, communication, conflict resolution, etc.) and i especially enjoy work on visioning, policy, and governance structures. I have a lot of additional nuts and bolts knowledge and experience that is useful for new start-up groups--while i'm neither a lawyer nor a banker, i'm familiar with finance options, legal types, and bylaws.
Training and Certification
While i have taken a bunch of workshops, my core training in this field comes from living in community and facilitating a LOT of meetings, plus a lot of work experience. I took Caroline Estes' & Lysbeth Borie's 6-day training in consensus & facilitation in 1998 and have been practicing professionally since then.
I lived 4.5 years at Acorn, 1 year at Du-ma, and co-founded Walnut St. Co-op and lived there the first 7 years, then moved into an informal group house with shared meals. I served 2 terms on FIC's board (1997-2003) and also served as Secretary (chief border collie) of the FEC during a transition period for that organization (2001-2003). I led the conversion process moving Walnut St. from private ownership by a departing resident into a limited equity co-op, including raising substantial capital and creating a revolving loan fund to finance the conversion. More recently i worked for a few years as the Cooperative Development Specialist for SquareOne Villages, and helped launch Peace Village which at 70 units is the largest housing cooperative in Oregon and quite affordable (25% of AMI). Along the way i also started a nonprofit 501c3 called the Group Pattern Language Project (we publish the deck Group Works: A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings, which is in use around the world) and co-founded Cascadia Song Rise which started as an LLC and then transitioned to nonprofit status.
Consultant Types
Visioning or development, Group facilitation, Mediation or conflict resolution, Mentoring long term, Governance or decision making, Team recreation, Membership or diversity, Business management, Finances or taxes
Per hour fee USD
75-150
Sliding Fees
yes
City and state/province
Eugene
Region
U.S. Oregon