Corner Alliance knows that change is best achieved when communities work together to pursue a common course of action. Communities are made up of people with diverse interests and backgrounds: citizens, subject matter experts, private industry, and elected officials, among many others.

Uniting a diverse community around a common purpose requires a substantial amount of coordination and communication. Corner Alliance works with government leaders to understand the makeup of the community they are trying to coordinate; identify key advocates, decision-makers, and influencers; and unite these groups to create results.

Corner Alliance believes:

• Sharing ownership and encouraging participation creates trust that allows a community to drive a solution that best meets their overall needs, and increases support for any resulting plan. Community members who feel ownership for an agenda will serve as advocates and may provide resources and expertise to help with implementation.
  
  
• Members of communities often have varying amounts of influence and time to devote to the effort. Identifying the leaders in a community as early as possible is essential.
  
  
• Not all members of a community have the same agenda, and this may lead to disagreements on direction. However, there is almost always a basic set of proposals on which everyone can agree. Making progress on those proposals can help communities build the trust they need to tackle increasingly complex challenges.
  
  
• Finding innovative and simple ways to facilitate collaboration is critical to developing a community. Community members often have limited time and resources to devote and may be spread across a wide geographic area. Organizers should work to reduce barriers to participation and remain conscious of the demands they are placing on the community.
  
  

To help clients Unite Communities, our services include:

Stakeholder Analysis and Planning
Analyze a leader's stakeholder community to determine their requirements, core issues, and identify leaders. Create a stakeholder map provides visibility into the varying levels of support for, and resistance to, the change effort.

Facilitation
Bring communities and leaders together to have honest conversations structured to achieve indentified outcomes.

Governance Planning and Chartering
Define organizational structures and processes by which communities can be involved in ongoing programs.

Web 2.0 Strategies
Determine ways leaders can take advantage of social networking technologies to maximize participation and communication within a community.