Across the U.S. and Canada, multi-stakeholder collaborative networks are addressing the systemic issues and wicked problems that cannot be solved by any one organization or institution alone. In the past 5 years here at Circle Forward, we’ve been working with these...
A version of this article originally appeared in WNC Woman Magazine, September 2018 Fostering resilience in the Asheville area photo credit: Nelle Gregory When Laura Lengnick received an “angel grant” to be invested in women working for sustainability in the local...
When we met John Winnenburg, at the Appalachian Studies Association conference last year, the Winding Road initiative was in transition. “We started out with a participatory vision, but then, politics and personalities started to dominate. We weren’t creating the...
An Interview with Eric Smith, Green Opportunities YouthBuild Program Director This spring, Tracy and new Circle Forward coach/trainer, Daniel Suber, started a new training curriculum in consent-based decision-making with program participants at Green Opportunities. ...
We want to express our gratitude to the people who do the very important work of addressing how our food systems impact our health, communities, lands and waterways. This is long-term, complex, and often under-appreciated work. Starting with Equity from the Outset...
What can we learn from an octopus about collaboration? John Buck presents valuable new insights for teams wanting to share leadership and get more done, in his new TedX talk at the University of Maryland. John has been helping organizations all over the world to...
Currently in our culture, a lot of people are talking about equity but not many people are talking about power. When we look at what’s going on in the #metoo and #timesup movement there’s a real danger that the problem begins to be perceived as isolated to a...
Is top-down always the most effective way to manage? Roderick Simmons, Director of Asheville’s Parks & Recreation, does not think so. In fact, he believes that “as government we must change, or we’ll just repeat the mistakes of the past,” he says. A...
A conversation with Simon Mont of the Non-Profit Democracy Network Highly structured processes like Sociocracy, Dynamic Governance and Holocracy often meet resistance When Tracy read Simon Mont’s article, “Autopsy of a Failed Holacracy: Lessons in Justice,...
June Holley has been weaving economic and community networks for more than 35 years. In 1981 she discovered complexity science and became intrigued with the process of transformation. How could communities change in ways that would make them good places for everyone?...
