Greetings from Colorado’s Front Range!

Greetings from Colorado’s Front Range! Since Fort Collins is my new home that means it is also the home of Open Doors Consulting (ODC). We’ve had a slow few months as I’ve acclimated to my new, slightly hillier, home. However, we are back and ready to connect in the community.

While ODC’s location has changed, my goal with ODC remains the same. My goal is to be a catalyst for purposeful conversations that lead groups or organizations to meaningful change. While my lens tends to focus on conversations of ability and access (forty (40) years of life experience tends to shape my thought processes) Open Door’s mission is bigger. While conversations of diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential to our success as a community, these ideals fall short of our greatest aspirations. Instead of stopping at simply inclusion we need to move towards creating a sense of belonging in our organizations, groups, and communities. To belong is one of the most powerful feelings in the world and Open Doors Consulting’s purpose is to help organizations create tangible plans that help them move toward creating a greater sense of belonging for everyone they interact with.

Open Doors Consulting was launched with a primary focus on helping reshape higher education and I am forever grateful for the conversations we got tot to be part of at places like my Alma Mater, The University of Northern Iowa, North Dakota State University, Illinois State University, and the University of Illinois Chicago. I am hopeful that our outreach in higher education continues to grow.

While ODC began in higher education we’ve been lucky enough to be part of great conversations in community government spaces as well. Thanks to Mercy Davison and Greg Troemel with the Town of Normal, Illinois for being selfless champions of ODC and our mission!

So what does this all mean? Since I moved I now have the opportunity to spread the impact ODC’s work even further. So friends and colleagues in the Western US, let’s get together. Reach out via our website at www.OpenDoorsConsulting and let’s start a conversation. For friends, colleagues, and friends I haven’t met yet in other places, I want to talk to you too. Let’s connect and see what we can do together. I live an hour from Denver so flights to visit your campuses and communities are definitely possible. If you aren’t ready for a full in-person meeting, let’s see if the wonderful technologies of Teams or Zoom can provide an opportunity to connect. I look forward to talking to you soon!