Partners

The Library of Michigan is the state library administrative agency. The Michigan Legislature created The Library of Michigan to guarantee Michigan residents and their government one perpetual institution to collect and preserve Michigan publications, conduct reference and research and support libraries statewide. The Library provides consultation and support services to libraries of all types in order to help them strengthen and enhance services for their communities.

The Midwest Collaborative for Library Services is a non-profit, member-driven organization whose mission is to facilitate sharing resources and to collaborate with other organizations to benefit Michigan and Indiana libraries. With more than 660 members, MCLS provides informational content, operational services, and personal oversight designed to assist libraries in helping themselves better serve and relate to the communities they serve.

Michigan Libraries Engage is made possible by grant funds from the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services administered by the State of Michigan through the Library of Michigan. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's approximately 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums and related organizations. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive.

In this complex, interconnected, ever-changing world, the purpose of Return On Energy Management Consultants (ROE) is to help engage and energize individuals, organizations, and communities. ROE helps clients to tap into their unlimited positive human energy to create a thriving culture, nurtured by a healthy working climate where people flourish and organizations grow and prosper in productive, measurable, and practical ways. Work environments where psychological safety and accountability form the foundation for creativity and innovation. The foundation of ROE’s work is a change philosophy and methodology called Appreciative Inquiry. Maureen (Mo) McKenna, Energy Catalyst & Change Maker and Certified Management Consultant at ROE and our direct partner in the Michigan Libraries Engage project, is a leader in Canada in the field of Appreciative Inquiry (AI.) As a global pioneer of AI, Maureen has applied and taught the AI philosophy and methodology to business leaders, academics, and front-line workers since 2000.

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) is a network of innovators who bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and take action together effectively on today’s toughest issues. Dialogue and deliberation are innovative processes that help people come together across differences to tackle our most challenging problems. In a time of extreme political partisanship and increased conflict between religious and ethnic groups, teaching, spreading, and supporting the skills of dialogue and deliberation are vital. The NCDD website is a clearinghouse for literally thousands of resources and best practices. Above all, NCDD provides opportunities for members of the broadly-defined dialogue and deliberation (“D&D”) community to share knowledge, inspire one another, build collaborative relationships, and have a greater collective impact.

We Can Work It Out, LLC is the professional partnership of Mary King and Sarah Ross. Together, they bring a vibrant, dynamic approach to group decision-making processes with a relentless focus on finding agreement. Mary and Sarah have a passion for sharing the skills and tools they have learned for productive meeting facilitation with professional and non-profit organizations, as well as groups tackling the challenges and joys of cooperative living. In all settings, We Can Work It Out, LLC's focus is on empowering groups to have effective meetings, recognize and leverage both individual and collective strengths, and develop meaningful, concrete, implementable outcomes.

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit that teaches, coaches and inspires people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together. Founded by Rich Harwood in 1988, the Institute partners with some of the world's largest nonprofits and our tools and frameworks have spread to all 50 states in the U.S., across Australia and Canada, and have been used by individuals in more than 40 countries worldwide.

The people we teach and coach, called public innovators, are the leaders that move our communities forward. They come from nonprofits, businesses, government, the media, and educational and religious organizations. They are an essential ingredient to solving our most vexing challenges. We develop these individuals in a practice we call Turning Outward - using the community, not your conference room, as the reference point for your choices and judgments.