I love how you all have facilitated all the strong personalities – keeping us on track as much as possible without feeling like you’re shutting people down or cutting off conversation. Nice job! Not an easy job! I am a facilitator, and I work with a lot of facilitators. You all have done a really good job!
Lakweshia Ewing
The Buzz, Chattanooga, TN
I like how y’all kept it moving, while still honoring introverts, how y’all are able to remind us of what has been previously done, and how y’all were able to hear multiple concerns and decipher how to move forward.
Anonymous feedback
The Buzz, Chattanooga, TN
Words cannot express how I feel about your professional and personal commitment to this work. You have afforded youth with a “Chance for Change.” If there is anything that my staff and/or I can do to provide any additional assistance, please do not hesitate – this story made my day/weekend. Thank you again for “living the work!”
Harold Wright, Jr.
Director of Youth and Young Adult Services, Pioneer Human Services
Honestly, Jennifer has a gift. As a kindred spirit and social equity collaborator, I watch her to learn how to achieve my own flow state. Yes, she’s THAT good! Seriously.
Jeffrey Dade, II AFC®
Director, Family Stability Initiatives | United Way of Pierce County
Jennifer is an attentive and thoughtful colleague. The strong analytical skills she brings to her work are an asset to all those around her. She is relentless in her commitment to racial equity and demonstrates it in all the projects she undertakes. It is a pleasure and an honor to collaborate with her in any capacity, as an instructor, a facilitator, and a thought partner.
Anaid Yerena, PhD
Assistant Professor, Urban Studies | University of Washington Tacoma
You two set an educational tone that really works well for me. Really relaxed, caring, space where mistakes can happen and be held. The balance of new information and practice was really good. A lot of spaciousness to give things a try. Then lots of space to reflect on what we did. A really nice balance.
Anonymous Feedback
Seattle Central Facilitation Training
I have participated in many facilitation trainings and have facilitated groups over the years, but never have I had the opportunity to address facilitation from a specifically anti-racist and equity lens. I so appreciated your co-facilitation and the work and synergy that goes into co-leading a series of workshops. You both bring gentle, deep compassionate kindness, witnessing presence, insightful clarity, show up authentically and are all around wonderful human beings. It was a joy to participate and to get to see and interact with my colleagues even more deeply.
Anonymous Feedback
Seattle Central Facilitation Training
You both – Darryl and Jennifer – did an amazing job together with the racial equity workshop. You have good energy together, you were respectful and had a nice give and take, and you pushed back when needed and modeled humility and learning in public.
Diana Toledo
Leadership Development Director | River Network
Our group had reached a breaking point and we knew we needed help. Jennifer was strongly recommended and was able to understand exactly what was needed to achieve consensus from a large group with competing different interests. My only regret is that we didn’t hire her from the start. We won’t make that mistake again!
Jason Escareno
Senior Policy Advisor | Pierce County Council
Jennifer, you have extraordinary people skills. No one has ever been able to get people in Seeley Lake all moving in the same direction before. They are an exceptionally combative group but you were able to get them to talk civilly with each other and develop common goals. It was really something to see. Everyone ended up trusting you.
Cathy Kahnle
Former Executive Director | Clearwater Resource Council
Things have really worked out so well in direct result from the things the team and I learned with you and afterwards as a result. I really learned so much about participative leadership – and leadership in general.
Lorayne Meltzer
Director | Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies, Prescott College
Jennifer is amazing! I’ve worked with her on numerous projects for numerous organizations and she always delivers incredible results. Her ability to resolve conflict and direct conversation to produce effective and efficient outcomes is unlike any I’ve ever seen. She will always be my go-to for consulting and facilitation.
Beka Burton
Director for Business and Community Training | The Center for Rural Development
Jennifer did a magnificent job of hearing and airing the various questions and issues, yet steering toward the ultimate goal at every step.
Leah Kintner
Puget Sound Partnership Lead for Human Wellbeing Vital Signs
I want to thank you for your Partnership Learning Project report. I read through it this past week and learned so much about our program’s history and future path. The Findings section was very meaty and helped me process or compartmentalize some frustrations and observations. The piece about tribal participation gave great perspective and inspired exploration and reflection about the involvement of our tribal partners and how we might incorporate their values into our messaging and communications.
Participant in the Partnership Learning Project
Jennifer facilitated a process that challenged my team and brought clarity to the often tumultuous world of nonprofits. Her approach is sensitive and sensible. She has the ability and patience to work with many types of individuals and to engage each one of them personally. From start to finish, Jennifer’s skill, experience, insight and leadership was top notch!
Kelley McDonald
Executive Director | United Way of Grays Harbor
Thank you SO much for all the work you put into making the retreat such a success. It was a true pleasure working with you. I will definitely recommend your services to my colleagues!
Elizabeth Campbell
King County Department of Public Health
I am impressed by how quickly you learned about our team and our work. I learned a lot just watching how you managed the room, the people and the topics as they came up.
Tanyalee Erwin
Assistant Director | Washington Stormwater Center
I really appreciated how seamlessly Jennifer stepped in to make sure the objectives were being met and that people’s needs were also satisfied. It was a real pleasure to watch a pair of pros – and to not have to be doing that work at this meeting! You enabled all of us to focus on content, and that was really helpful.
Martha Monroe
Professor and Extension Specialist | School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida
Jennifer Arnold has a diverse, professional skillset which she applies with thoughtfulness and precision. From research, writing and analysis to facilitation and leading groups through complex processes, Jennifer demonstrates competence and confidence in every task she conceptualizes, designs and leads. In her work with The Russell Family Foundation and the Puyallup Watershed Initiative, Jennifer designed an engaging, consensus-based planning process that helped launch 6 new collaborative groups, diverse in nature. This includes guiding groups to establish customized governance structures so they could eventually facilitate their own participatory decision-making processes.
Holly Powers
Senior Program Officer | The Russell Family Foundation
Jennifer is supremely poised and professional – we relied on her to help us work through many complex projects that required new approaches and sophisticated problem solving, and she consistently delivered excellent results. She has added value to our work at the highest level and increased our capacity to tackle persistent challenges in watershed restoration and community engagement.
Todd Reeve
Executive Director | Bonneville Environmental Foundation
Jennifer helped me organize and facilitate a state agency meeting which included a diverse group of executive managers, natural resource scientists, and practitioners. Her thoughtful preparation for discussions on a difficult topic was reassuring, but what really impressed me was how she created time for everyone to contribute and yet was able to keep the meeting moving on time without making people feel rushed.
Dr. Teodora Minkova
Research and Monitoring Manager for Olympic Experimental State Forest | Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Jennifer Arnold is a facilitator of the highest caliber, and I could not recommend her more highly. She played a key role in facilitating the formation of our community coalition and helped create a foundation of collaboration and trust which has carried us forward. Jennifer has also supported our group through our annual consensus-based budgeting process (no easy feat!). Jennifer does an excellent job of helping me define my goals for each meeting and facilitating our group through complex processes so I can focus on my role as the leader of our organization.
Liz Kaster
Puyallup Watershed Initiative Active Transportation Community of Interest Manager
Jennifer is exceptionally skilled at combining issue discussion, decision making and personal sharing with the skill building for collaboration.
Jenny Rohrer
Clearwater Resource Council | Seeley Lake, Montana