Real community change doesn't start with a strategic plan. It starts with who's in the room, whose voice shapes the decision, and whether the people closest to the problem are trusted to lead the solution.
Rooted & Moving is a three-part lunch-and-learn series for nonprofit program leaders in West Michigan who are ready to build that way. Each 90-minute session is practical, no-fluff, and designed to give you frameworks and tools you can take back to work the same day. Come eat lunch with us and be ready to dig in.
Each workshop stands alone — attend one or all three.
May 11 • August 17 • November 2
Free to Attend @ Rapid River Distillery
You worry about lunch, we'll worry about the frameworks.
Who is this series for? This series is designed for nonprofit program directors, managers, and coordinators who are working at the intersection of organizational strategy and community engagement.
You'll get the most out of this series if you:
Work directly with community partners or neighborhood collectives
Are involved in program design, planning, or evaluation
Want practical tools — not theory — you can take back to work
Are ready to look honestly at how your org holds (or shares) power
Session 1: Deciding Together - Collaborative Decision-Making That Honors Community Voice
What if the decisions you think you're making 'with' community are actually still being made by you?
This 90-minute lunch-and-learn digs into one of the most important — and most avoided — questions in community-organization partnerships: who actually decides? We'll explore a practical framework for tiered decision-making that makes explicit where community autonomy must be protected, where genuine collaboration is required, and where organizational decisions need to be made transparently. We'll look honestly at the ways 'participatory' processes can be participatory in name only — and what it takes to build structures where community voice genuinely leads.
You'll Walk Away With:
A tiered decision-making framework you can map onto your current partnerships
Language to name and negotiate power imbalances with partners
Clarity on the difference between community autonomy, collaborative decisions, and organizational decisions
The Decision-Mapping Worksheet to use with your team or board
Who Should Attend:
Nonprofit program directors, managers, and coordinators who work with community partners, run collaborative initiatives, or are involved in program design or evaluation — and who are ready to look honestly at how power shows up in their work.
Details
Date: May 11, 2026
Time: 90 minutes, Lunch & Learn format — lunch provided
Cost: Free
Facilitators: Tera Wozniak Stortz + Megan Smith Jovanovic
Session 2: Unleashing Agency - Building Collective Efficacy from the Inside Out
Communities aren't waiting to be activated. They're already moving. Your job is to stop getting in the way.
This session gets to the heart of what makes community change actually work — or stall. We'll unpack the difference between individual agency (the belief that I can act) and collective efficacy (the belief that we can change this together), and explore what it looks like when organizations — even well-intentioned ones — quietly undermine both. Through an asset-mapping exercise, you'll see the communities you serve differently. Through an honest organizational audit, you'll see your own systems more clearly. And through hands-on facilitation practice, you'll leave with moves that build energy rather than extract it.
You'll Walk Away With:
A clear framework for distinguishing individual agency and collective efficacy
An asset-mapping process to use with your team or community partners
The Agency Audit Worksheet to identify where your org may be suppressing agency (and how to address it)
Practical facilitation moves that shift energy from reporting to deciding
Who Should Attend:
Program leaders working at the intersection of organizational strategy and direct community engagement — especially those who run community meetings, co-design programs with partners, or are responsible for community engagement strategy.
Details
Date: August 17, 2026
Time: 90 minutes, Lunch & Learn format — lunch provided
Cost: Free
Facilitators: Tera Wozniak Stortz + Megan Smith Jovanovic
Session 3: Purpose in Motion – Planning for Shared Purpose
A strategic plan built around what your org wants to accomplish is an organizational plan. A plan built from shared purpose is a movement.
Strategic plans fail when they start from the wrong place. This final workshop in the Rooted & Moving series brings the arc together: we've built the case for shared decision-making, we've mapped what's already alive in community — now we plan forward from it. You'll learn the difference between mission alignment and shared purpose, and why that distinction matters for whether your plans actually take root. Through a facilitated discovery process, you'll practice finding the shared purpose underneath a real partnership or program in your work. And you'll leave with a one-page planning framework you can take into your next planning cycle — one that the community you serve would actually recognize as theirs.
You'll Walk Away With:
A clear distinction between mission alignment and shared purpose — and why it matters
Experience facilitating a shared purpose discovery conversation
The Shared Purpose Planning Template for use in your next planning process
A concrete commitment for one thing you'll do differently in your organization's next planning cycle
Who Should Attend:
Nonprofit program directors, managers, and coordinators who work with community partners, run collaborative initiatives, or are involved in program design or evaluation — and who are ready to look honestly at how power shows up in their work.
Details
Date: November 2, 2026
Time: 90 minutes, Lunch & Learn format — lunch provided
Cost: Free
Facilitators: Tera Wozniak Stortz + Megan Smith Jovanovic
Do you have questions or want to partner with us to host a session? Reach out.