Services
From assessment of a gateway community to training and into advancing collaborative projects, Gateway Forward is ready to assist communities that connect people to the experiences and stories to be found through our public lands and waters. Gateway Forward serves public, private, nonprofit, and academic sector clients with an interest in enhancing the common good to be found at the intersection of natural, cultural, recreation, and economic interests.
Gateway Community Assessment & Strategic Planning
Understanding the assets and amenities, programming and interpretation, visitor services, marketing and communications, and commitment and capacity in your gateway community is essential to taking productive steps to enhance the community for travelers and those who call it home. Gateway Forward is ready to facilitate collaborative assessments and planning to identify gateway community elements, assess strengths and opportunities, plan for implementation, and advance implementation and investment.
Workshops & Training
Building capacity in a community to successfully address the various challenges and opportunities present in a gateway community is a core service for Gateway Forward. Training and workshops are tailored to meet the needs of the specific community, but often reflect a mix of advance assessment activities, curated technical content, facilitated exercises to establish strengths, opportunities, and priorities, and a focus on implementation. Core in-person activities are often bookended with virtual support to build engagement and support implementation of priorities.
Facilitation
Whether you have a group of ten working to establish priorities for the upcoming year or a collaborative that includes multiple agencies, community leaders, nonprofits, and business partners working together, Gateway Forward is ready to facilitate the process to build consensus and implement projects. Often working through a mix of virtual and in-person gatherings, delivering results through an informed approach that fits client needs is priority.
Collaborative Program & Process Development
Moving beyond the individual community level, Gateway Forward is available to support broader efforts to develop programs and processes that support regional efforts, delivering frameworks that engage audiences, advance priorities, and deliver positive impacts at multiple levels.
Your Gateway Community's Challenge or Opportunity
What's the struggle - or - what's the opportunity that is front of mind for your gateway community? Always happy to chat potential paths forward or solutions for gateway communities!
Project Development
When you are ready to move forward with a project but are struggling with creating a project description that captures the heart of your project, drafting a full scope of work, identifying potential funding paths, drafting grant applications, or developing a request for proposals, Gateway Forward is ready to assist with projects that serve the common good to be found at the intersection of natural, cultural, recreation, and economic interests.
To talk through any of the services that Gateway Forward Planning & Consulting offers, contact Susan Elks at susanelks@gatewayforward.com or at 610-563-1516.