Latest News2022-10-14T17:38:57-07:00
612, 2017

Practitioner Profile: ACYR appoints ToP champion Sharlet Barnett as CEO

By |December 6th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|

Sharlet Barnett is the recently appointed CEO of Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources, Inc. (ACYR).  She has worked directly with young people, youth professionals, and community groups since 1996, after graduating from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1998 with a degree in Psychology.  During her time with ACYR she became trained in ToP methods and the Youth as Facilitative Leaders principles that she has used to help enact a project-based [...]

2909, 2017

Working with City Councils

By |September 29th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|

Partners in Participation has worked across all institutional types over the years.  We are grounded in methods conceived to promote participation in villages, neighborhoods and communities across the world. However, we have applied them throughout the public, private and civic sector in this country as well.  Practical and effective methods of participation are universally sought out.  Some recent work with City Council's in the Valley has our attention these days [...]

1112, 2016

Practitioner Profile: Eric Brooks is building common ground in Education

By |December 11th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|

 Eric Brooks is a Senior Consultant for educational professional learning group Learning Forward where he also serves as the President of the state affiliate Learning Forward Arizona. For the last 8 years he has served in a variety of capacities at the Arizona Department of Education, his last being the Director of professional learning. Throughout his tenure he played an integral role in the Professional Development Leadership Academy, in providing [...]

1111, 2015

In Memorium for Jess Sixkiller, a pioneer, mentor, and role model in community building

By |November 11th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|

by John Oyler On Sept 25th Jess Sixkiller was murdered in his home in west Phoenix at the age of 78 by an intruder.  Police have apparently not made progress investigating. Jess was of the Cherokee community in Oklahoma and lived most of his life in AZ with his wife,Tammy, and family.  His contributions within Indian Country and beyond were immense, including with ICA.  In his early career he was [...]

2701, 2015

Empowering Parents/Caregivers to be their Children’s First Teachers: The Readiness Basket in 2014

By |January 27th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|

Empowering parents to be their child’s first teacher; The Readiness Basket, a bilingual  (English/Spanish) training, is an exciting interactive parent and child learning workshop series offered through selected AZ schools and community sites for over six years. The program is offered to parents, caregivers and their young children ages 0 – 5. Using ToP methods during these 11 two hour sessions, parents discuss issues vital to parenting, brain development, the [...]

2611, 2014

You’re invited! Partners’ Holiday Open House December 5th

By |November 26th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

It's the time of year again! Time to look back on the events that have shaped us as we look around to people and the network that sustains us and take a moment to give thanks for each other.  Please join our Partners' team and other colleagues for a  Holiday Open House to celebrate our joint efforts in 2014! Drinks and light snacks will be provided.   No tickets needed!  [...]

2611, 2014

Reflections and Celebrations: Facilitating Awesome Holiday Conversations

By |November 26th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

by Alisa Oyler Holidays have always been our benchmarks of passing time, our opportunities to gather together and look back, take stock and reconnect.  Maybe now more than ever we are aware of the luxury that is sharing time and space and having the  attention of those we love.  The compression of these days, however, has been known to spark conversations that happen in fits and starts. Sometimes it's because [...]

2611, 2014

Blast from the Past: World of Change

By |November 26th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

by Jim Wiegel WORLD OF CHANGE There is a consistent subtext in the history of top methods that we live in a world of rapid change the world it is transforming and we are facing problems and challenges that simply cannot be dealt with effectively using the methods, approaches and values we grew up with Transformation is happening all around us all the time. It is no news to anyone [...]

2010, 2014

A Partners Perspective: It’s the Network we are a Part of with ToP

By |October 20th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

by Jim Wiegel Gathering of ToP Practitioners in Guatemala in 2004 "I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes.  We convince by our presence." This line, from the American poet, Walt Whitman, was used by a ToP colleague here in Arizona, as part of what he called a "Facilitator's Invocation", seeking to express the spirit in which we do our work with groups. Sometimes, . . . [...]

1810, 2014

Practitioner Profile: Terri Sue Rossi talks about using ToP in Public Participation

By |October 18th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

by Alisa Oyler   Terri Sue Rossi knows the ebbs and flows of public participation. Working for almost three decades in the highly contentious water industry, she has seen efforts involving a diverse array of invested stakeholders stutter under the weight of politics, hidden agendas and benign neglect. She’s also seen the cloak of a highly technical industry lose the human story to the weeds of mathematical equations. In increasingly [...]

1510, 2014

Blast from the Past: Thinking Globally and Acting Locally ~ ICA West’s IToPToT Experience

By |October 15th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

by John Oyler It started in conversations I had with representatives from Japan, Kenya, Egypt and India at the ICA Int'l General Assembly in Lonavela, India[singlepic id=19 w=320 h=240 float=right] in 1994 about how to help national ICA's build the capacity to teach ToP courses and develop national training systems.  In l995, thanks to an enormous leap of faith on the part of my colleagues in ICA West we hosted [...]

2809, 2014

Opportunities with ToP and Public Health

By |September 28th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

By Marilyn Oyler I’m excited to share with you some of the new efforts that are taking place in the ToP Network regarding the work of Public Health professionals! The ToP Network is a national independent nonprofit professional association of facilitators and trainers who use ToP methods in their work. The ToP Network launched the Public Health in ToP (PHiT) task force in 2010 to deepen the effectiveness of the methods [...]

2709, 2014

A book study of “Reinventing Organizations” by Frederic Lalaoux

By |September 27th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

By James Wiegel A big part of what we do as ToP facilitators is to create the events, meetings, planning retreats, summits, annual gatherings, even short conversations that engage a group of people significantly with some question or task they are facing and then help them come to a conclusion or way forward. Often, the key to success is the courage and conviction of the person who hires us to [...]

1906, 2012

Two new videos sharing Technology of Participation courses!

By |June 19th, 2012|Categories: Uncategorized|

Often, when we deliver training in the Technology of Participation methods new graduates will comment on how their expectations have shifted.  Many will say that though they have worked in dialogue and facilitation for years, it wasn't until they were able to see and take part in the Technology of Participation that their sense of what is involved in the role changed.  In the spirit of inspiring the imagination about [...]

805, 2012

Mapping Community Resources at the Community of Practice

By |May 8th, 2012|Categories: Uncategorized|

On May 4, 2012, John Oyler showed us a quick and highly participatory process for mapping community resources in the public, private, voluntary, and informal sectors. There are two parts to the process: the “Community Resources Inventory” and the “Circles of Involvement.” This tool can be used with any community initiative. We used it in a fun and timely simulation (Get Out The Vote!) to demonstrate the process. This tool has been used [...]

1803, 2012

Deepen & Develop ToP Skills

By |March 18th, 2012|Categories: Uncategorized|

Check out this video on the ToP Mastery series. Linda Alton and Marilyn Oyler explain all the components in an easy, conversational style. Click here for the video.   Video production by Lynne Larsen, Videographer, Creating Video Memories One Frame at a Time. (Dec 2011) For more information and an application for the program, check the Mastering the Technology of Participation  on Training scroll down menu.

We are profoundly saddened to share that a part of our Partners In Participation family, Courtney Lonergan, along with two of her children, Ali and Almira, were in a fatal car accident and lost their lives June 10th, 2021. They are survived by Aracelli the youngest of Courtney’s children.

Originally from Alaska, Courtney earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho in Anthropology and Spanish; and Master’s degree from Oregon State University in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnic Studies.

There are a million stories we have about Courtney and her children’s energy, love, compassion, and vibrancy, and we will forever seek ways to honor Courtney’s incredible life and legacy.

We know there is no way to replace this devoted mother and her children, and as we share our deep loss, we join you in the celebrating their contribution to all of our lives.

Courtney Lonergan was an enthusiastic and compelling facilitator who engaged the diverse perspectives of participants to elicit inspired, meaningful action and working groups. She worked in grassroots organizing in inner city Phoenix for over 10 years and was a community organizer from the time she was a small child. Courtney was passionate about bridging different cultural groups, facilitating honest dialogue, uncovering biases, and working together in the community to make the world a more peaceful place. Her experience not only included ToP Methods but a variety of approaches and methodologies including early childhood education, community building, engaging youth in nonprofits, engaging parents with schools, bridging schools with local communities, neighborhood academy training, group facilitation methods training, youth as facilitative leaders training and facilitation graphics training.

Individuals, entire organizations, communities, and Boards of Directors were deeply impacted by the work that Courtney did.

Courtney Lonergan’s clients included

  • Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources, Inc. (ACYR)
  • Arizona State Libraries
  • Arizona Community Foundation
  • Arizona State University English Dept.
  • Public Allies
  • Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona
  • Rural Health Office of Arizona
  • Arizona PTA
  • The Wellness Community
  • West Valley Cancer Connections
  • Central Arizona Project (CAP)
  • Murphy School District, Community Care
  • Tumbleweed
  • L.A. Allstarz
  • CMY
  • YouthBuild Guadalupe
  • Arizona Town Hall
  • Chicanos por la Causa (CPLC)
  • Maryvale Partners in Action (MPIA)
  • Urban Arts Movement
  • American Red Cross&Crescent International Youth Retreat
  • Campfire
  • Valley of the Sun United Way
  • ASAP Connect
  • American Islamic Forum for Democracy
  • Muslim Liberty Project

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