Skip to content

Community activation happens best in groups when we pool together our collective thinking to identify problems more accurately and brain storm innovative solutions. To that end, I designed the Group Thinking Sessions for Community Activation to reflect what it’s like to be a part of group of like-minded thought partners, working together to address the complex issues of community building and engagement. Group Thinking Sessions bring together elements of course work, consulting & coaching, and immersion into a community framework.

Who are these Group Thinking Sessions for?

These Sessions were created for:

* Community engagers, Community builders, Community managers, and allies who believes in bottom-up empowerment of communities.
* Participants from any domain and space, including the non-profit, private, and governmental sector.
* Any maturity level of community, ranging from a seedling community to a community that’s fully grown and established.

What do Group Thinking Sessions look like?

Group Thinking Sessions trifecta
Elements of Group Thinking Sessions

A small group of people (~12 people) meets together to share experiences and ideas, while being led through a 6-part course of 1.5-hour sessions (once every two weeks) to explore the fundamentals of Community Activation. For every session, we focus on a topic theme like:

* Community Activation: Understanding our goals
* Governance: Establishing culture and trust
* Participation: Roles and involvement in community
* Communication: Keeping the community looped in and on track
* Leadership: Empowering the community
* Reflection: Improvement and adaptation

To support our learning during the Sessions, there will be presented content, facilitated discussion, one-on-one’s, worksheets, accountability partnership, and workshopping of each other’s challenges in community building. 

What will you get out of the Group Thinking Sessions?

Aside from getting your questions answered, you will also gain:

* A network of Community Activation thought partners.
* A map to move forward with your own community goals
* A new way to approach community engagement and community development
* Access to our Community Activation Slack workspace so you can always reach your peers
* A course completion certificate

Overall, I hope that we will all get to know each other better, learn together from our collective experiences and challenges, and provide mutual support for each other as we move forward with our Community Activation hopes, dreams, and goals.

Want to learn more?

Submit an interest form to let us know you’re interested in joining the next cohort.

Interest Form

What participants have to say:

“I was part of [Arika’s] piloted Group Thinking Sessions for Community Activation and the wealth of knowledge and expertise Arika brings is unmatched. Arika shared her knowledge in areas of governance, structure, activation, feedback and evaluation, and community building. I learned copious amounts and found like minded individuals to connect with. I am starting a community and wanted help thinking big picture design. I knew what some of the day to day would look like, but thinking about long term before it comes is crucial. [The Group Thinking Sessions] helped me realize that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way, just different paths and this was a great group of people to explore with. I can’t say enough great things about Arika. She is inclusive and encouraging, open to feedback and ideas, and a talented facilitator and professional. Her experience allows for her to be relatable and pull examples for a variety of areas she has worked and lived in. Working with her was a rewarding and joyful experience. Everyone should have an Arika in their life – mine is definitely better for it.” 

 

Frana BA

Consultant at Creating Community White Caucuses

“I did a six session group thinking course on community activation. I was part of a small cohort that met weekly and participated in course work and guided discussions about community management and building. [After the course], I had a better conceptualisation of my role as an active manager and builder for my community. I think this will allow me to take a more structured approach to developing my community in future. I also got new ideas for initiatives that I can use to increase my community members engagement. Arika has a very participant centred approach to training in which all members of the group were active participants in each others learning and problem solving. This allowed her course members to access a wider range of perspectives and experiences than when a trainer presents themselves as the only person able to answer questions about the material they are teaching.”

 

Gavin Taylor

Global Board Member at the Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE)

“Arika’s community development training was concise yet comprehensive – we covered all of the key points I’ve often struggled with as a leader in professional communities. This program pushed me to create better structures for onboarding, governance, and sharing power in a community that I’m a part of. In turn, this helped me onboard new community leaders who can engage our network even better than I can…Arika’s area of speciality is one big differentiator. It’s clear she’s wrestled with challenges of sharing power and fostering an inclusive community in an under-resourced environment, so can relate to the challenges of managing an all-volunteer group… Personally [after working with Arika] I feel a bit more confident in my ability to foster community, knowing that I’m doing some of the right things already and I know what the next steps are to further develop our group.”

 

Paul Collier

Leadership Team Member at Denver Data Storytellers