Leveling Up
a six-month cultural space development cohort for nonprofits and tribes in Washington State
In 2024 and 2025 I developed and hosted the Leveling Up cohort program for the State of Washington, working through their Department of Commerce.
I built a team of eight experts from various fields related to cultural space development, including architects, cost estimators, fundraisers, construction managers, community engagement specialists, and organizational development experts.
Over 20 nonprofits and Tribes, from throughout Washington State, took part in the cohort. All were navigating complex capital projects; all were serving distinct cultural communities; all were stalled at various points of their processes.
Building Capacity
Our goal was to meet the organizations and projects where they were on the road to their own ribbon-cuttings; to develop a curriculum that would help these projects build internal capacity and to “level up” from wherever it was that they were starting.
This group cultural nonprofits and Tribes met monthly to explore a curriculum we designed, addressing issues from funding to design, from incorporating affordable housing to structuring land trusts.
Our team also met directly with each cohort member through the “Office Hours” part of the program, which provided direct consulting services, specific to their projects, to each partner organization.