This year, we were gifted many opportunities to gather virtually to share our stories, bring new friends into our network, and fuel the ABCD movement across the globe alongside some amazing collaborators. We are always astonished by how much there is to learn from one another and by how much wisdom and inspired action can emerge from community conversations. Because we received many gifts from our 2021 conversations, we wanted to give you access to the following webinars that Wendy co-hosted this year in partnership with other organizations committed to practicing and strengthening ABCD in their communities. We hope that you find these conversations as enlightening as we did!

In May 2021, Wendy partnered with Jeder Institute to host “Letting Youth Lead – Making the Shift from Entertaining to Empowering” that shared our experiences of empowering youth to see themselves as vital contributors and leaders in their communities and helping them to recognizing community youth as an asset - they are the heroes we have been waiting for!

In August 2021, Wendy co-hosted two sessions as part of this year’s ABCD Unconference that brings ABCD practitioners together from around the globe to learn from one another’s work in their unique communities and contexts. The first webinar was co-hosted with Deb Wisniewski of the ABCDI and Heather Keam of Tamarack Institute and was entitled, “Rural Communities: We Are It!” Together, they did a “year in review” session that shared the past year’s actions and learnings, as well as what the future of the group will look like.

The second session was co-hosted with Cheryl-Groce Wright of Kaleidoscope Collaborative RVA where their summer 2021 Soul Care for Community Builders listening project outcomes were shared, as well as an invitation extended for global ABCD community builders to help co-create what is now the Soul-Full Bridges Collective.

And lastly, in September 2021, Wendy co-hosted a conversation with De’Amon Harges, also known as the Roving Listener, and Heather Keam of the Tamarack institute. Their conversation covered how we can reconnect our communities through listening and allowing ourselves to be astonished by what we learn.

Want More?  We have one more gift to share that is not available publicly.  Wendy led a session in partnership with the Tamarack Institute on “Logic Models” and how to use them in your community building initiatives. If you’d like to have access to this bonus training on Logic Models and how to use it to measure outcomes of ABCD email us and we will be happy to share the password.    

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season full of joy and connection, and we look forward to journeying through 2022 with all of you!