When you engage partners and members of the communities where your organization seeks to have an impact, your initiatives will be more creative, more strategic, and more likely to succeed.  Engaging multiple partners from relevant sectors often is necessary to benefit from complementary knowledge and expertise.

To improve educational outcomes among children and young people in low-income communities, consider the role of community-based organizations in offering after school and out-of-school enrichment opportunities, as well as the role of formal early education centers and K-12 schools.

1. New Hampshire Funders Forum:  Charting a Collaborative Course. Engaged by Co- Conveners – the Endowment for Health, Granite United Way, and New Hampshire Charitable Foundation – to serve as a thought partner and facilitator with over 30 participating funders as they determine a future strategic direction. 

   • Health Equity Environmental and Funding Scan. Conducted a scan of health equity initiatives at the state, regional, and national levels to identify funding sources that might support this work in New Hampshire. Completed seven internal papers in Phase 1: health equity definitions; literature review summarizing findings of health equity policy, research, and practices addressing the social determinants of health; overview of state and national promising practices in health equity; assembly of infographics depicting health equity concepts; and profiles of the top ten states with significant health equity initiatives. Phase 2 will profile 3-5 states in depth and map those states’ funding mechanisms. (November 2016 – June 2018)

   • New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative Sustainability Planning. Facilitated a process with local collaboratives in Nashua, Manchester, Concord, and Laconia and with the Community of Practice to develop plans for continuing successful efforts beyond the initial grant period. Assessed sustainability capacity using Washington University’s Program Sustainability Assessment Tool. Facilitated teams to identify high-impact, high value strategies using Matrix MappingTM. Produced cost and revenue models with two sites to determine fund development targets based on projected growth. Assisted sites with fund development materials. Coordinated with Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) and other technical assistance providers as needed. (February 2017 – January 2018)

   • New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative Promising Practices & Lessons from Local Communities. Produced an informational resource guide that documents achievements of the four-year New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative. The guide, available on the Welcoming New Hampshire website, is for use primarily by practitioners in implementing promising and effective practices emerging from local collaboratives in Nashua, Manchester, Concord, and Laconia, and from the statewide Community of Practice. (March–July 2018)

   • New Hampshire Funders Forum: Charting a Collaborative Course. Engaged by Co- Coordinators, namely the Endowment for Health, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and Granite United Way, to facilitate a process that assists participating funders in refining desired results and developing a framework for determining where the New Hampshire Funders Forum would like to take their collaborative learning and funding in the future. Managed convenings in December 2017, May 2018, and August 2018; preparing for November 2018. Organize information funders provide into themes for planning. Facilitate Co-Coordinators to propose milestones for engagement. Produce a final progress report. (November 2017 – December 2018)

                                        

2. •  Health Equity Environmental and Funding Scan. Conducted a scan of health equity initiatives at the state, regional, and national levels to identify funding sources that might support this work in New Hampshire. Completed seven internal papers in Phase 1: health equity definitions; literature review summarizing findings of health equity policy, research, and practices addressing the social determinants of health; overview of state and national promising practices in health equity; assembly of infographics depicting health equity concepts; and profiles of the top ten states with significant health equity initiatives. Phase 2 will profile 3-5 states in depth and map those states’ funding mechanisms. (November 2016 – June 2018) • New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative Sustainability Planning. Facilitated a process with local collaboratives in Nashua, Manchester, Concord, and Laconia and with the Community of Practice to develop plans for continuing successful efforts beyond the initial grant period. Assessed sustainability capacity using Washington University’s Program Sustainability Assessment Tool. Facilitated teams to identify high-impact, high value strategies using Matrix MappingTM. Produced cost and revenue models with two sites to determine fund development targets based on projected growth. Assisted sites with fund development materials. Coordinated with Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) and other technical assistance providers as needed. (February 2017 – January 2018) • New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative Promising Practices & Lessons from Local Communities. Produced an informational resource guide that documents achievements of the four-year New Hampshire Immigrant Integration Initiative. The guide, available on the Welcoming New Hampshire website, is for use primarily by practitioners in implementing promising and effective practices emerging from local collaboratives in Nashua, Manchester, Concord, and Laconia, and from the statewide Community of Practice. (March–July 2018) • New Hampshire Funders Forum: Charting a Collaborative Course. Engaged by Co- Coordinators, namely the Endowment for Health, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and Granite United Way, to facilitate a process that assists participating funders in refining desired results and developing a framework for determining where the New Hampshire Funders Forum would like to take their collaborative learning and funding in the future. Managed convenings in December 2017, May 2018, and August 2018; preparing for November 2018. Organize information funders provide into themes for planning. Facilitate Co-Coordinators to propose milestones for engagement. Produce a final progress report. (November 2017 – December 2018) November 2017 – Present
3. Association for High School Innovation, formerly the Alternative High School Initiative (AHSI), a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative with Big Picture Learning – Served as Director of the Alternative High School Initiative and led the Association for High School Innovation to complete and launch implementation of a business plan designed to ensure fiscal sustainability of the network.  Consulted with AHSI from January through June 2011, when the network concluded operations. The AHSI network grew from six national organizations operating 29 existing schools in 2003 to having 13 members operating over 291 schools and programs by October 2009. December 2007 through June 2011
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services – As a subcontractor to the American Institutes for Research, provided leadership, management, and coordination of national partners involved in Partnerships for Youth Transition, a four-year federal cooperative agreement with sites in Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington, to design transition systems for young adults (ages 12-21) that improve access to and quality of mental health and wellness supports. Each site engaged the mental health system and partners from other public and private youth-serving organizations and agencies in the community.

   December 2001 through May 2006