An Energizing Staff Retreat

Kathy Gallant, the owner of the Blue Moon Market & Cafe in Exeter, NH, had run this successful health food store and cafe for 12 years when she recognized it was time for the next phase of the business’ evolution. Last October, the doors re-opened as Blue Moon Evolution, a full-service restaurant featuring organic, locally-grown… Read more

Healthy People, Healthy Planet: Making the Connections between Wellness and Sustainability

New Directions Collaborative facilitated a World Cafe dialogue, in partnership with the Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living and Integrative Medicine at Brown. This fun and inspiring evening forged new connections among Rhode Island’s wellness and sustainability communities, to discover new ideas and solutions that support wellness of people and the health of our planet. The interactive… Read more

Vermont Farm to Plate Network Gathering – Year 2

Last year, we had the pleasure of helping design and facilitate the launch of the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, working in collaboration with Curtis Ogden of the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC) and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. During the past year, over 150 organizations have been meeting to advance the Farm to… Read more

Gathering to Launch the Vermont Farm to Plate Network

The state of Vermont had committed to double local food production over 10 years, as a way to boost economic development, increase jobs, and increase access to healthy food. The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) had gathered input from hundreds of Vermonters to create a Farm to Plate Strategic Plan that defined the sub-goals and… Read more

Boosting the Networking at NHBSR’s Spring Conference

We recently helped New Hampshire Business for Social Responsibility (NHBSR) start off its Spring Conference with a focused networking session. After welcoming remarks by the conference hosts, Beth Tener facilitated a one-hour session to generate new connections by creating ways for people to have meaningful conversations in small groups. The room of about 170 people… Read more

Collaborating to Enhance Energy Efficiency in Transportation

New Directions Collaborative, in collaboration with Sonia Hamel of Hamel Environmental Consulting and Pat Field of the Consensus Building Institute, helped to facilitate a cross-agency collaborative process to develop a framework for considering energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in transportation decision-making. The initiative was led by the Colorado Department of Transportation and the… Read more

Amplify What Works as a Frame in Strategic Planning

“Well, that meeting was not nearly as painful as I expected.” This “ringing endorsement” came from a participant in a strategic planning workshop we co-facilitated for the environmental department of a large corporation. Part of what made this meeting more engaging than most was a focus right at the start on identifying what was working… Read more