Research & Community Intelligence

Understand communities beyond the surface.

We design and conduct rigorous, participatory research that surfaces community experiences, assets, priorities, relationships, and opportunities. Our approach combines qualitative research with community-centered methods that recognize lived experience as a meaningful source of knowledge.

Services include:

• Community-based research

• Community asset mapping

• Qualitative research and analysis

• Interviews, focus groups, and community conversations

• Objectvoice and participatory research methods

• Research design and data collection

• Qualitative coding and thematic analysis

• Member-checking and community validation

• Findings synthesis and reporting

• Research-to-action recommendations

Engagement & Dialogue

Create meaningful ways for communities to shape what happens next.

We design and facilitate engagement processes that move beyond simply gathering feedback. Our approach creates opportunities for people to build relationships, exchange knowledge, explore complex issues, identify priorities, and meaningfully participate in decisions that affect their communities.

Services include:

• Community engagement strategy

• Community conversations and dialogue

• Focus groups and listening sessions

• Stakeholder engagement

• Participatory planning

• Community advisory processes

• Public engagement

• Collaborative decision-making

• Conversation and facilitation design

• Community validation and feedback processes

Strategy & Systems Design

Turn community knowledge into decisions, structures, and action.

We help organizations make sense of what communities are telling them and determine what to do with that knowledge. Through collaborative strategy and systems thinking, we translate research and engagement findings into practical pathways for programs, policies, partnerships, resources, and long-term change.

Services include:

• Community intelligence strategy

• Strategic planning and design

• Research-to-action strategy

• Systems and relationship mapping

• Coalition and network design

• Program and initiative design

• Community-informed policy development

• Partnership strategy

• Implementation planning

• Learning and feedback systems

Training & Capacity Building

Build the skills to do community-centered work well.

We equip organizations, researchers, facilitators, and community leaders with practical approaches for research, engagement, facilitation, and collaborative knowledge-building. Trainings can be customized around an organization's team, project, or community context.

Training areas include:

• Community Intelligence

• Community-based research

• Objectvoice

• Community-centered research design

• Facilitation and dialogue

• Community engagement

• Qualitative research and analysis

• Member-checking and community validation

• Asset-based approaches

• Research-to-action

• Facilitator development

Available as: 90-minute workshops, half to milti-day institutes, multi-session learning series, trainings, and customized organizational learning experiences.

Research-Driven Storytelling

Preserve community knowledge and bring research to life through story.

We combine research, community engagement, and storytelling to document experiences, preserve cultural knowledge, and communicate what communities know in ways that reach audiences beyond traditional reports.

We support projects from early research and concept development through community engagement, interpretation, and the development of public-facing stories and experiences.

Services include:

• Oral history projects

• Documentary research and development

• Cultural and historical research

• Community storytelling

• Story collection and interviewing

• Participatory storytelling

• Research for film and media

• Community-informed documentary development

• Exhibits and experiential storytelling

• Research translation for public audiences