Human Capacity Building

Community, organizational, or role-specific programs which enable individuals to improve their leadership, management, and organizing skills. Programs range from individual skill development and practice to engaging with others, building teams, and influencing outcomes at the organizational or community level. Audiences include local government officials, community leaders, organizational leaders, community event planners.

Example program topics: leadership development; local government education; civic engagement, public deliberation, analysis of public issues; volunteerism; cultural traditions; leading or facilitating community conversations


Use this 1-page outline as a self-study, or use it to guide a conversation with a mentee or student. Whether working in business, education, the non-profit or government sector, mid-career can bring exciting professional development and growth, as well as great internal worry and doubt… often at the same time.…


This 1-page guide can help you recognize potential in mentees or students, and to think about ways to deliberately communicate what you recognize. Observation might be the most important thing a mentor or teacher can do. Try to see in your mentee (or students) something that has not been seen…


Great questions can powerfully move people to act, to get unstuck, and to see potential. They help us shift perspective — a critical component for solution-finding, meaningful communication, and daily living. This 1-page outline provides 20 anytime mentoring questions that supplement the 40 conversation-starter questions found in The Encouraging Mentor,…


One of the most important things an organization can do is encourage its employees (or volunteers). Mentoring is a show of faith and an investment in people, your most valuable resource. But formal mentoring programs can be awkward. Alternatively, nonformal mentoring, grounded in adult learning theory and nonformal teaching practice,…


The Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing (BGGW) workshop is an award-winning two-day in-person training in which participants draft a proposal, give and receive feedback on each other’s proposal, search for funders, and learn the importance of building relationships with partners and funders. The BGGW workshop is an efficient, economical, evidence-based…