Group Facilitation

Let Yellow Wood Associates work with you to design interactions that get you where you want to be. We know how to help groups of people work productively together. Our designs are conflict friendly, objectives-based, highly interactive, geared to a variety of learning styles, focused on authentic communication, and fun! We have extensive experience facilitating and designing group processes in a variety of areas, including agriculture, economic development, forestry, and community capacity building.

Our experience includes:

1. Group Process Design

2. Focus Groups

3. Study Tours   

4. Internet-Based Facilitation

Group Process Design

Town of Cambridge, Vermont Planning Commission. September 1997 - February 1998. Yellow Wood assisted the Town of Cambridge, Vermont Planning Commission in designing and implementing a process to engage local residents and landowners in a dialogue about guiding future growth in the Town. Specifically, the dialogue focused on the type and degree of control that should be implemented. Tools used included a mail survey providing information about various regulatory and non-regulatory techniques, and a series of neighborhood focus groups with local facilitators trained by YWA. Contact Chris Bolen, Chair, Cambridge Planning Commission, PO Box 127, Jeffersonville, VT 05464, (802) 644-2251.

see also

SmartWood Certification of New York State Forest Lands

Focus Groups

Burlington Public Market. September 1998 - January 1999.  The Burlington Public Market Steering Committee retained the services of YWA to explore the feasibility of developing a year-round, indoor public market in Burlington, VT. YWA identified and surveyed Vermont producers to determine their interest in and capacity for selling at a year-round public market, and suggested several options for structuring the organization of the market, keeping in mind the Committee’s guiding principles of accessibility, affordability, diversity, sustainability, and citizen participation. Contact Amy Demetrowitz, Project Developer, Burlington Community Land Trust, PO Box 523, 179 S. Winooski, Avenue, Burlington, VT 05402, (802) 862-6244.

 Study Tours  

Adirondack Study Tour. August - October 1998. Yellow Wood and the Madagascar Collaborative Program of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development provided an administrative framework for a six day, five night Adirondack study tour that provided exposure to a range of issues, organizations and landscapes that are characteristic of the Park’s unique land ownership situation. The purpose of the study tour was to broaden the participants’ perspectives and understanding of strategies used for managing natural resources and human conflicts in a Park context. Contact Louise Burck, Cornell University of Natural Resources, Fernow Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, (607) 255-5994.

Internet-based facilitation  

  

USDA Rural Development Best Practices. July - October 2000.  Yellow Wood facilitated nine net meetings with USDA State Rural Development staff to share stories about projects/activities that have contributed to community capacity building, leveraging, and partnerships, and that represent a new way of doing business for USDA Rural Development. The result was a compilation of “stories from the states” for the Washington office of USDA Rural Development Policy and Planning. Contact Alicia Petersen, USDA, Office of Policy and Planning, Washington, DC 20250, (202) 690-0569.