NYC Art of Hosting & Participatory Leadership

Stewards and Practitioners

NANCY FRITSCHE EAGAN

Nancy is founder and President of People Potential and has provided consultation and training services to public and social sector organizations for over 20 years .  She applies her direct services and management experiences in government and the social sector to her work.  She is a specialist in change strategies, relationship and community building, leadership development and project management.  Nancy designs meetings to foster meaningful conversations in support of collaborative and inclusive processes.   Nancy is known for her ability to create and customize services and interventions that are suited to the needs of each organization.

Nancy is a practitioner and steward of the Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations and facilitates organizational and community development through the use of circle practice, appreciative inquiry, open space, world café, presencing and other participatory and engagement tools.  She is a founding member of a food cycle “collaboratory” called Tasting Change.  She helped with the design and follow through of the First Women’s Conference on Sustainability in New York State with the Women’s Initiatives for a Sustainable Earth. Nancy co-facilitated World Cafés with over 800 people at the 100th Ecumenical Gathering of the National Council of Churches and The Church World Service. Nancy serves on the board of WISE - Women's Inititatives for a Sustainable Earth, EarthMatters, Inc.

Nancy has a broad range of consulting and training experiences.  In past years she facilitated projects with Good Shepherd Services (also the Sanctuary Model®), The Support Center for Non-Profit Management; Eileen Fisher Company; Children’s Aid Society: StoryCorps;  NYC Department of Probation; Human Resources Administration –NYC; United Way; New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services; and Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology.  She  served on the Board of the Berkana Institute and in  2012 and 2014 was on the planning committee of the NGO CSW for the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She has an M.S.W. from Hunter College School of Social Work and is a member @Center for Social Innovation.

 KELLY MCGOWAN, M.P.A., launched Upstream Consulting in 1999 to help community and public leaders to create and implement strategic responses to social problems. Since then, she has facilitated community planning processes, provided organizational development consultation, and secured more than $15 million in government and private funding for community based organizations serving disenfranchised communities.

McGowan emerged as a student leader in the anti-apartheid movement to divest universities from South African corporations in the mid-1980s. Following graduation, she moved to New York City and became active in social movements to end homelessness. She served on the board of the Union for the Homeless, on the housing committee of ACT-UP, and co-founded a leadership development and tenants’ rights organization for homeless women with children in the public shelter system. As the Executive Director of an HIV prevention organization targeting high-risk homeless youth, McGowan advocated for and secured the first government funding for a peer-based HIV prevention intervention.

McGowan earned a bachelor of science in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Public Administration with concentrations in non-profit management and health policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has been a teaching colleague with the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and has training in structural family therapy from the Ackerman Institute and Salvador Minuchin’s Family Studies, Inc.   E-mail:  kelly@goingupstream.net

RICHARD RIVERA is President of RR Consulting & Associates an organizational consulting firm, specializing in executive coaching, organizational change/transformation, strategic planning and human resource training for healthcare, government, nonprofit and corporate organizations.  Mr. Rivera’s expertise includes specialized services around leadership and management development, change management, peer group learning, strategic planning, cultural diversity, executive retreats, succession planning and executive coaching.

Richard’s Rivera consulting experience ranges from serving healthcare organizations such as The Montefiore Medical Center and the NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation, to serving government agencies such as the NYC Housing Authority and the NYS Office of Children and Family Services and to serving nonprofits such as The United Way of New York grantees, the Hispanic Federation agencies in NYC, and the Children’s Aid Society.

Mr. Rivera currently serves as lead facilitator/consultant for the Baruch School of Public Affairs, Executive Programs. At the Milano School of Management and Urban Policy, Richard served as an adjunct professor for the Principles of Nonprofit Management graduate course. He also served as coach/facilitator for Columbia University’s Management Development Program.  As a member of the Drucker Foundation’s “Organizational Assessment Tool” team, Richard has conducted presentations to board and executive leaders across the nation. Mr. Rivera received his M.S.W. degree from Columbia University, School of Social Work.  



Rev. Chantilly Mers-Pickett is a minister, educator, AoH practitioner, musician and activist. She currently works as a faith and social justice educator at the Church Center for the United Nations. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary (MDiv ’11) and ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she hopes that her work of facilitation, dialogue, arts and education empowers others to be agents of spiritual-social transformation. 

Workshops and Resources

The Art of Hosting Transformative Conversations

on Racial Equity

May 24 & 25, 2018

As our organizations and communities engage in awareness programs and strategy sessions to undo the harms of structural racism, we return again and again to the need for well-facilitated conversations with groups of people of diverse social identities and experiences.  This 2-day workshop is designed for anyone who is seeking skills and practice for advancing and deepening conversations that center on race.  We will use participatory methodologies ~ Circle, World Cafe, Open Space, Collective Sense Making ~ and case stories of how they have been used by groups and organizations to move from difficult conversations to wise action.  We work together to build our capacity to listen, learn and find new ways forward. 



Register through:  The Workshops at Good Shepherd Services

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