Coaching Services

While training provides a foundation for a successful community building effort, coaching allows us to help organizational leaders customize a community engagement strategy for their context and walk with them through the implementation of that strategy. Leaders are coached in the Empowered Communities Framework which includes tools for building an effective steering team, launching a community listening process, developing community connectors, building community action teams, establishing effective partnerships and transferring ownership of the effort to community members.

ABCD Readiness

Our clients often engage us as consultants to help assess their organizational readiness and capacity for engaging in asset-based community development efforts.

During this initial engagement, our focus is on the organizations motivation for community engagement, assessment of different approaches to meet that objective, and the opportunities for engagement including community identification, potential partners and the development of an initial asset map.

Design and Implementation

Individual coaching of key congregational, non-profit, community, and governmental leaders who are the point leader for a community / school strengthening effort

Every effective ABCD development effort has a catalyst who ensures the project is moving forward toward the group-defined objectives. Providing individual coaching is the best way of equipping that catalyst with the customized strategy and tools needed for implementing ABCD practices into the initiative. We recommend monthly Design and Implementation coaching through the first year of a new development effort and quarterly for years two and three. This allows us to coach the catalyst through the launch of each process team (listening, leader development, team building and partnership development) and then to sustain those process teams as they then coach a core team of leaders and ultimately transfer ownership to that core team which emerged from development efforts.

Group Coaching

Assist New Teams As They Are Launching

Throughout the development effort, new teams are constantly being formed as the development effort grows and matures. As these new groups are being formed, many of our clients have found it helpful for us to facilitate one or more sessions to help the group members learn their individual roles and to formulate the overall vision and mission of the group.

Support For Start-Ups & Grassroots Social Innovators

Embrace is passionate about supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of those implementing ABCD in new and bold ways.

The social innovators behind small but mighty movements are often implementing their visions without the same level of support found in traditional structures. Our coaching relationships can provide an additional level of support and guidance backed by our 20+ years of experience as an ABCD social innovator.

Sustainability

Once the organization has begun implementation of the Empowered Communities Framework, we work with our clients to help them sustain the development effort.

These services include the development of grant funding templates, outcomes measurements systems, internal training processes. external partner development systems and communications plans.