Community Collaboration

Our Focus on Collaboration

Communities face complex and interconnected challenges—such as health inequities, social injustice, and environmental crises—and no single organization or leader can solve these deep-rooted issues alone.

Systemic challenges require coordinated, multi-sector, and community-led action. This needed collaboration goes beyond working together; it’s about building deep trust, sharing power, and crafting solutions that reflect the diverse needs of every community. By centering inclusive leadership, building skills that foster sustainable partnerships, and providing training, tools, resources, and strong networks, we help communities tackle systemic barriers at their roots. Our services are designed to help funders, organizations, and community leaders strengthen their collaborative practices and drive long-term, equitable transformation.

Community Collaboration Services

Collaboration Lab

This course provides a comprehensive, cohort-based learning experience that builds long-term collaborative capacity and leadership development. It is designed for philanthropic, nonprofit, and association-based organizations who want to invest in the collaborative capacity of their teams, community partners, or grantees. Learn more below!

Coaching and Technical Assistance

We provide individualized support to deepen collaborative leadership, address emerging needs, and apply tools in real time. Delivered 1:1 or in small groups, integrated with other services or stand alone, we assist philanthropy, nonprofit, and individual leaders as they face challenges and opportunities for professional growth and community impact.

Learning and Networking

We increase access to collaborative concepts and practices through thematic gatherings, tailored for diverse audiences and specific learning goals and designed as open to the public or invitation-only for specific groups. We offer the following virtually or in person, as a one-time event or part of a series: learning series such as webinars and discussion groups, single and multi-day conferences, workshops, and trainings.

Cohort Support

We embed collaborative leadership development into existing initiatives and funding strategies to strengthen shared leadership and peer learning. The following services can be structured as independent events or integrated into larger initiatives: communities of practice, site visit design and management, peer learning journeys, and workshops and trainings.

Workshops

Our half- to full-day workshops introduce essential collaboration concepts and help leaders of coalitions, organizations, or multi-sector groups apply practical tools. Through hands-on activities and peer learning, participants are able to reflect on collaboration structures and decision-making processes while identifying barriers and opportunities in their work.

Contact us to learn more about which opportunity would be the best fit for your collaboration goals!

Collaboration Lab

This practice-tested course taps current and future leaders’ deepest capacity to be change-makers who understand when it’s important to collaborate, why, how, and with which structures.

Do the members of your community truly work together to meet pressing community needs? Do they recognize that collaboration is a precondition for success and have the skills to collaborate effectively? With Healthy Places by Design’s Collaboration Lab, you can activate the capacity of leaders in your community—emergent and traditional, of all experiences and backgrounds—to be confident, effective collaborators in service to positive systems-level change.

Collaboration Lab builds participants’ confidence and capacity in collective leadership, cross-sector partnerships, building trust, and navigating power. It strengthens the collaborative muscles of community change-makers who hold the keys to achieving your most crucial goals. The approach offers a balance of structured facilitation, live problem-solving, and an interactive and responsive space for deep learning and application.

Collaboration Lab was developed by Healthy Places by Design in partnership with the Danville Regional Foundation and the Tamarack Institute.

Collaboration Lab Full Course

This 10-session course explores the nuances of collaboration and provides participants with practical “how-tos.” Core tenets of building trust and sharing power are woven throughout the course's 3P Model, which covers People, Process, and Planning. The framework centers on achieving equitable outcomes.

Are you interested in learning if Collaboration Lab might be right for your community? Contact us to learn more!

Foundations of Collaboration

Four-Session Learning Experience

Foundations of Collaboration is a four-session course that helps participants apply practical tools, deepen cross-sector relationships, navigate the real-world challenges of collaboration, and engage in peer learning. This course incorporates action-based learning with Collaboration Lab's 3P Model. Explore the session flyer to learn more information.

View Flyer

The Power of Collaboration

Introductory Session

The Power of Collaboration is an introductory session that provides an overview of the Collaboration Lab concepts, curriculum, and course offerings. The session also includes examples of practical tools to strengthen your collaboration capacity as well as engaging activities that model the Collaboration Lab's full course. Explore the session flyer to learn more information.

View Flyer

What's New

Register for upcoming events and webinars or read the latest resources to help deepen your collaboration skills!

Learn More

Project Examples

Michigan Health Endowment Fund

The Michigan Health Endowment Fund (Health Fund) engages with communities across Michigan to address and improve social determinants of health. Recognizing that health leaders can also benefit from training on how to collaborate and make the most of their partnerships, The Health Fund is engaging Healthy Places by Design to offer Collaboration Lab to local leaders, in a rare opportunity for formal collaboration training.

Healthy Fayette County Initiative

Healthy Fayette County (HFC) is a group of residents and local leaders committed to improving the health of their community. This is no small challenge, as Fayette County has the second-lowest life expectancy of all counties in Indiana. Seeing collaboration as the key to addressing the complex and deeply rooted barriers to health in the county, HFC consulted with Healthy Places by Design on collaboration-focused workshops and trainings through a series of sessions in 2024-2025.

Healthiest Cities and Counties Challenge

Aetna Foundation, American Public Health Association, National Association of Counties, and Healthy Places by Design partnered to help 20 city- and county-level teams advance health equity in their communities through the Healthiest Cities and Counties Challenge. Healthy Places by Design led the Challenge’s peer learning collaborative, coordinating and facilitating learning opportunities that laid a foundation for shared leadership and deeper community engagement.

Slide 3

"Collaboration Lab helped me realize that our coalition was stuck in the listening and learning stage. By applying concepts I learned in Collaboration Lab, our coalition created a shared vision with the neighborhood to be able to actually get work done. We’ve been intentional in trying to focus on the ingredients for successful collaborations."

Gareth Emmerson, YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids

Slide 2

"I love the way you facilitate our discussion groups. It’s one of your super powers. You really have a knack for creating an environment for making people feel comfortable instantly. We have new people coming every month and you’ve created a structure where people feel comfortable immediately talking. It’s a gift to us. That’s where the magic happens when people feel comfortable sharing challenges and sharing their successes."

Ericka Burroughs-Giradi, University of Wisconsin, Population Health Institute

Slide 3

"You foster peer-to-peer exchange by facilitating meaningful discussions that encourage connection and collaboration."

CHR&R Discussion Group Participant

Slide 2

"[Collaboration Lab] helped our entire team show up more authentically and move with more intention."

Collaboration Lab Participant, Michigan Health Endowment Fund

Slide 3

"Our Building Healthy Communities (BHC) grantees spoke very highly about the learning collaborative. In addition, having Healthy Places by Design facilitate and manage our BHC program, including the sustainability grants, was immensely helpful and valuable."

Bronwyn Starr, New York State Health Foundation

Explore how Collaboration Lab and our other services might be right for your community or organization.

Does your organization invest in community problem-solving that requires work across sectors? Is your work focused on issues such as health, housing, poverty, or economic development? Are your investments geographically focused, such as in a specific neighborhood, community, or region? Contact us to explore how we can help!

We believe that when people work together, their collective ideas and efforts create greater change than any individual could achieve alone.

Our Focus on Collaboration

Communities face complex and interconnected challenges—such as health inequities, social injustice, and environmental crises—and no single organization or leader can solve these deep-rooted issues alone.