As a member of the South Fulton Continuum of Care Board, I would like to express my personal appreciation for the work in facilitating our Strategic Planning Workshop held in April 2019. Monica was an extremely knowledgeable professional who was able to explain the process so that everyone understood how our individual efforts would achieve results that would impact our communities over the next five years.

A person that can take something so complex such as completing a five-year plan for the community in 2 days from beginning to end is a gift not bestowed on your average individual. It is very rare to find an employee like Monica who can keep your attention during these types of meetings, but also make it fun, makes her uniquely qualified to being called a top facilitator. I can honestly say that I loved being a part of this planning workshop and currently in discussion with my own Board of Directors to have Monica facilitate our Strategic Planning Workshop scheduled for October 2019. Great job!

Monica was instrumental in helping organize our neighborhood association and get everyone focused on a shared vision of improving our community. She did very well in using different styles of participation with our group, from ice breakers so that everyone could learn something about each other to using the flip chart to show different ideas. If someone in the group got too far off task, Monica knew how to draw us back in. At the end of our consensus workshop, volunteers were organized and ready to advocate for a new neighborhood playground. Residents left with a feeling of satisfaction and power as opposed to hopelessness.

“Pebble with a huge ripple effect”

I observed Monica facilitating a Community Collaborative for close to three years. She has a true gift for facilitation and was able to meet with the team, hear our varying opinions, and manage to please all parties involved. As a highly effective facilitator, Monica has the ability to listen to a plan, not get overwhelmed by the many moving parts, and break it in to manageable pieces. She always found creative ways to help the group visualize their progress and vision for the future. By changing the way we work, we have experienced increased levels of partner engagement and pride in the work. I would easily rank Monica in the top 10% of facilitators that we’ve used.