Next Stage’s 5-Part Series on Community Voice is Back for Round 2! After publishing Inside-Out: The Case for Community Voice in October 2023, Next Stage recognized the need to create a platform where we could discuss findings from the latest trends and comparative...
A Passionate Defense of Collective Impact
Next Stage is a social innovation company, so of course we are big fans of Stanford Social Innovation Review (ssir.org), which serves as a clearinghouse of social change efforts. We greatly recommend signing up for the free weekly newsletter, and if you are so...
A Movement Whose Time Has Come: Community Voice and Advocacy
On June 27, Next Stage will present its fifth and final webinar on the power of community voice, with this one focused on its essential role in advocacy (Sign up here!). Of all the topics covered as a part of the series thus far, this one holds special interest for...
Marketing & Community Voice: An Essential Primer
“Welcome to our webinar. We’re so glad you could join us!” This quarter, Helen Hope Kimbrough and I are leading a series of free webinars on the topic of community voice. Specifically, we are outlining how the process of listening to the constituents closest to where...
Someone You Oughta Know: Three Questions with Helen Hope Kimbrough
Helen Hope Kimbrough is many things. She’s the Senior Director of Community Voice at Next Stage, recent Charlotte Ledger 40-over-40 Winner, Board Chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, podcast host and children’s author. She’s also a wife and mother...
Embracing the Outsider: The Benefits of Hiring Beyond Industry Boundaries
As I reflect on my major career shift two years ago from ministry to consulting, and how Next Stage welcomed this “social impact outsider,” to the team, I’m thinking about the mutual ways we’ve benefited from our pairing. I took a risk using my skills and interests in...