Working With Us

NH Listens partners with local communities, schools, and state-wide organizations to create environments that help move conversations forward.

We work with public officials, organizations, and leaders in all sectors to build relationships, talk about difficult subjects, build coalitions, and gather broad input that can lead to improved practice and policy.

We design opportunities for people to engage with each other regarding some of the most challenging issues communities face. We work with state and local partners to achieve equitable decision making through facilitated dialogues and learned exchanges that engage a mix of people with lived experiences and content expertise. We are committed to being fair-minded in our mission to create and sustain an inclusive process for public engagement.

Working with us brings nonpartisan, civic engagement expertise into challenges your community is facing and helps guide the process, ensure broad outreach, and monitor fairness. We believe engaging all voices in a community can have transformative effects.

We build upon the work of Archon Fung, the Director of Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and our national partners who are invested in embedding community engagement and dialogue into their work. We believe facilitated conversations that include diverse voices and perspectives keep local democracy, participatory decision-making, and opportunities for deep understanding and connection alive in New Hampshire. these community-engaged practices across traditional power dynamics lend to:

Increased effectiveness of decisions that get made
Added legitimacy to the work of public leaders
Increased equity as more voices are included

NH Listens does not advocate for specific outcomes or actions in any of its public engagement work.

We believe when people can bring voice and agency to community decision making, fair and equitable outcomes are possible and more likely. We help actively remove barriers to inclusive public participation, honor a full range of community interests, and ground solutions in local knowledge. Our overarching goals are to help project partners in communities to:

Bring people together to talk, listen, and engage with one another across differences to seek common ground
Provide time for in-depth, informed conversations about public life and challenges
Achieve outcomes that lead to community informed solutions

NH Listens partners with local communities, schools, and state-wide organizations to create environments that help move conversations forward. Working with us brings nonpartisan, civic engagement expertise into challenges your community is facing and helps guide the process, ensure broad outreach, and monitor fairness.

Our offerings are always tailored to each project, and may include: coalition building, issue framing, workshops on equity, facilitator training – including youth, designing and implementing community conversations, strategies for recruiting participants, analyzing and reporting on findings from conversations, and planning steps to move from talk to action.

The first step is always a conversation with us. You can reach us by email at nh.listens@unh.edu or by phone at 603-862-0692. We look forward to working with you!

Testimonials from People We've Worked With!

“It is with gratitude that I write this letter of support and gratitude for NH Listens at the Carsey School of Public Policy at UNH. As chair of the Claremont School Board, it seemed appropriate, as we transition out of Covid related restrictions, to gather as a community to meet our four candidates for school board and learn about them and for the candidates to learn the what citizens want and expect from the schools and them.”

“The planning of the forum was exceptional with very appealing and informative promotional information that gave the community a clear idea of what the outcomes of the evening would be...The event itself was skillfully facilitated; to say the attendees were diverse culturally and politically is an understatement. I sat back as an observer and saw groups sharing ideas, laughing, and collaborating, an incredible sight in these polarized times.”

“In conclusion, I want to thank NH Listens, the facilitators were just superb, the results were remarkable, and we were lucky enough to have the whole thing paid for by a grant. I recommend this format for anyone who wishes to engage their community in a positive process of local governance.”

~ Frank W. Sprague, Chair, Claremont School Board
“I look forward to setting our next steps to build upon the work of the series. Working with NH Listens was fantastic, thank you so much. I look forward to the next project we can do together!”

~ Annette Carbonneau, Senior Program Manager, North Country Health Consortium
“NH Listens is well organized and facilitates discussions in a manner where all opinions and views are shared in a respectful and constructive fashion. NH Listens helped my department hold a discussion with community members to assure mutual understanding and trust between the Community and our Police Officers. The event was well attended and met our goals. The follow-up report written by NH Listens was excellent and resulted in action steps to build upon the discussion.”

~ Anthony Colarusso, Chief of Police (retired), Dover, NH; current Head of Security, Wentworth Douglass Hospital
“Listening can be one of the most disruptive things you can do. Stop and listen. It can provide a pathway forward.”

~ Steve Abbott, Independent Consultant, Great Schools Partnership
"Please pass along my awe and gratitude to the other co-facilitators. I really enjoyed the training today, despite having my internet cut out a few times. I often do not enjoy zoom break out rooms, but I had really great conversations. The flow (and facilitation) of the training was wonderful I definitely plan on attending more and spreading the word to others! I also enjoyed you sharing about your early childhood work/perspectives, as I am currently in the field."

~ Stevie Klein, Family Engagement Coordinator, Greater Nashua Smart Start Coalition for Early Childhood Success, a program of United Way of Greater Nashua.

Core Areas and Apporaches To Our Work

Engagement and equitable practices for grounded community change

NH Listens works with the Endowment for Health and the NH Center for Equity and Justice to sustain transformational engagement focused on race, intersectionality, equity, and long-term field-building for collective impact.

NH Listens works with NH public school districts focused on equity and engagement coaching for educators, administrations, school boards, along with providing family/community engagement, and critical incident response.

NH Listens fellows focus on youth leadership and building a community of practice network to foster public engagement, youth voice, and peer facilitation in schools/communities.
UNH/USNH collaboration to stick with difficult conversations

The Carsey School develops frameworks for equity and engagement in coursework, collaborations, and field experiences.

NH Listens student fellows and interns learn together and design dialogues for diverse groups of people across politics.

NH Listens designs workshops/dialogues for faculty/staff to build learning exchanges about trust, mattering, and equity.
applied research on civic life and participatory democracy

An interdisciplinary team studies civic health statewide and locally to understand how people participate in communities.

NH Listens engages in applied research in local dialogues for community change process with Everyday Democracy and other thought partners – developing theory, frameworks, and tools.

NH Listens participates in applied community-engaged research focused on equity, reciprocity, and community voices with partners, infusing public engagement to build inclusive practices and encourage trust-making and accountability.
Learning exchanges for engagement and Equity

NH Listens' fellows gather monthly for a community of practice and partner on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging work in NH.

NH Listens facilitates the Leadership learning exchange for equity (L2E2), cross-sector cohorts for leaders to reflect on their roles linked to racial equity and engagement in NH.

NH Listens facilitates sessions to deepen connection across race and equity colleagues in NH to foster dialogue with NH practitioners and shareholders.
NH listens local programming to strengthen community skills and engagement

NH Listens designs and facilitates anti-polarization and intergenerational dialogues for public decision-making and understanding, people learn to persist through challenging topics.

NH Listens provides services in public engagement and facilitated dialogues about equity, identity, and power dynamics that encourage mixed groups of people to "stick with tough conversations" in communities.

NH Listens expands online/in-person workshops on community conversations and facilitation, resources, skills, and tools.