We facilitate and convene diverse voices and guide productive conversations toward action. We bring together communities, organizations, local government, and decision-makers to find common ground and collaborative pathways forward.
Complex problems don’t get solved in silos. They get solved when the right combination of people, perspectives, and lived experience come together. We design and facilitate engagement processes that bring together communities, organizations, businesses, and decision-makers — creating space for honest dialogue and building the shared understanding that makes action possible.
That might look like a regional resilience workshop that helps a county map its vulnerabilities and chart a path forward, a community listening session that grounds research in lived experience, structured interviews that surface what business leaders actually need, or a leadership development program that builds long-term capacity for change. Whatever the format, our goal is the same: make sure every voice that matters is in the room, and that what’s said in the room shapes what happens next.
Projects
Examples of Stakeholder Engagement:
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A Trusted Guide for Climate Resilience Action in SC Communities
South Carolina is home to 10 federally designated Community Disaster Resilience Zones — communities where climate risk and social vulnerability are high, but resources to act are often limited. Finding the right funding, technical expertise, and partners can feel like navigating a maze. That is the problem the Southeast Navigator Network program was built to…
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Protecting Spartanburg’s Northside Neighborhood from Displacement
Rising property values in Spartanburg’s Northside neighborhood bring both opportunities and risks. Our research reveals how strategic interventions can preserve community stability while residents benefit from increased equity.
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The Business Demand Is There. Why Isn’t SC Capitalizing on Renewable Energy?
South Carolina companies, large and small, want to buy renewable energy. Many have hard commitments to do so. Research from Dr. Matthew Cohen and the Shi Institute finds that state policy is the main thing standing in the way and that the investment dollars may end up elsewhere if SC isn’t more proactive.
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The Map That’s Helping Greenville Fight Food Insecurity
Food insecurity isn’t spread evenly across a community. Some neighborhoods face far higher risk than others, but without reliable local data, the organizations working to address hunger are often unsure where to focus. Furman’s Shi Institute partnered with LiveWell Greenville to build an interactive map that changes that.