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Stakeholder Input
Our stakeholder input sessions surfaces insights, builds trust, and grounds decisions in lived realities. We design intentional, inclusive processes that welcome perspectives from both inside and outside traditional decision-making circles.
We bring stakeholder engagement that prevents problems, strengthens buy-in, and clears a path to implementation by including key voices to build trust and advance in the organisations mission.
We set clear expectations, guide teams through transparent engagement, and ensure input is gathered, processed, and communicated with integrity at every step.
Case Studies
Jefferson County Coordinated Transportation Plan
St. Lawrence County Coordinated Transportation Plan
The counties invited community stakeholders to identify the most pressing transportation barriers faced by residents and to co-create solution recommendations to inform the county’s Coordinated Mobility Plan.
In participation were representatives from healthcare, social services, public transit, education, recovery supports, government agencies, and community members.
For them the challenge wasn’t just gathering input but ensuring it came from those most impacted by transportation barriers, including:
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Residents struggled with infrequent or inaccessible transit services, making it difficult to reach jobs, healthcare, and essential services.
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Transportation costs often became a financial burden when individuals moved from public assistance to work, limiting their ability to remain employed.
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Missed appointments and poor follow-up care due to unreliable or unaffordable transport.
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Previous public input efforts felt disconnected from real action, leading to low engagement from both residents and key decision-makers.
They needed an efficient, inclusive, and actionable public input process to address these challenges. We facilitated so participants could lead discussions on their most pressing transportation issues, which fell under four themes: Underserved Populations, Employment & Education Access, Medical Transportation Gaps, and Other Community-Specific Concerns. Instead of just identifying problems, participants collaborated to develop solutions. We eliminated post-it notes, flip charts, and messy data processing by capturing structured, ready-to-use insights in real-time through seamless technology and process, ensuring inclusive and accessible participation that produced a more representative plan.
Outcomes
➡A Revised 5-Year Coordinated Transportation Plan that incorporated key barriers, solutions, and stakeholder recommendations from the session, directly influencing policy and funding priorities.
➡ Higher engagement as many participants stayed longer than planned because the session felt valuable.
➡ The final structured output reduced staff workload and ensured insights could be implemented quickly.
➡ The counties now have clear, actionable strategies directly informed by those most impacted (community driven solutions).
❝One of the best meetings I have had to solve the transportation issues in Jefferson County!❞
❝Well organized, options to participate at levels of personal interest❞
OUTBermuda wanted to meaningfully engage LGBTQ+ Bermudians living both on-island and around the world to shape the vision and priorities for Bermuda Pride 2023. They sought a safe, inclusive way to explore the emotional complexity of the theme Homecoming, while gathering real input to guide programming decisions and ensure broad ownership of the event.
We designed and facilitated a large-scale stakeholder input session bringing together community members across time zones. Participants engaged in real-time polling, topic-based breakout discussions, and collective sharing to surface shared values, needs, ideas, and hopes.
Outcomes
➡Broad community ownership of the Homecoming theme
➡Increased clarity for Pride programming and sponsorship alignment
➡Activation of topic groups to carry work forward
➡A strengthened global network of Bermudians and allies ready to participate
❝Productive, Positive, Progressive❞
❝Fun, informative, and connected❞
Oral Health Coalition
New York’s oral health system faces barriers in access, workforce capacity, and care coordination. The coalition had already developed the Barriers to Bridges Report, and the next step required moving from recommendations into collaborative action. The goal of this convening was to begin implementation by creating alignment and prioritizing the most impactful opportunities.
We designed and facilitated a half-day virtual convening that brought together leaders across public health, dental and medical care, education, disability services, and community advocacy. The session focused on building shared understanding, strengthening collaboration, and establishing clear ownership for next steps.
Outcomes
➡Five activated workgroups were launched to move from vision to coordinated action, each focused on a major priority area identified in the statewide workforce report.
➡Consensus on 2025 implementation priorities
➡Identified resource needs and partnership opportunities
➡Clear community leadership and accountability structure
➡A year-long roadmap for continuing the work and reconvening in Fall 2025
➡Renewed connection, creativity, and commitment
➡A co-created reflective poem, The Road Ahead, that captured the collective voice of participants and served as a symbolic outcome of the session; transforming shared commitment, hopes, and momentum into a unifying expression of purpose.
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NYMAC
Family Input Session on Newborn Screening Outcomes
NYMAC was looking to hear directly from families who had received newborn screening diagnoses, to understand needs beyond medical outcomes, and to shape a national framework for measuring what helps families thrive over time.
We designed a 2-hour virtual listening and co-learning session bringing together 10–15 families with diverse diagnostic journeys from across the region. The session used structured storytelling, small-group facilitated dialogue, and real-time synthesis tools to identify themes and insights grounded in lived experience.
Outcome
➡A prioritized set of family-defined outcome themes to inform federal measurement development
➡Increased connection and reduced isolation among participating families
➡Clear insights into barriers and supports that affect long-term thriving
➡Strengthened trust between families and public health research teams.The insights generated are now being used by NYMAC and RTI to build a tool that will shape newborn screening policy and resource allocation nationwide.
➡A collective poem was created from the exact words families shared, capturing their lived experiences, the emotional reality of navigating newborn screening, and what thriving means in their own language. This poem became a grounding artifact reflecting shared meaning