Up With Community is a practice to help individuals and teams grow through transformational experiences of their own power and love; increasing their impact and orienting them towards creativity, equity and freedom.
WHO WE WORK WITH
SOME OF OUR PAST CLIENTS & COLLABORATORS
L.L. Bean, national
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
Grist, national
Piper Fund, national
Center for Popular Democracy, national
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Portland, Maine
ACLU of Maine, Portland, Maine
Wellstone Community Action, national
Forage Market, Lewiston, Maine
Maine Equal Justice, Augusta, Maine
Environmental Priorities Coalition, Augusta, Maine
Orton Family Foundation, Shelburne, Vt.
Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, Portland, Maine
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Restorative Justice Institute of Maine, Brunswick, Maine
HOW WE DO IT

When we start a project together, we design a four to 10 week mapping assessment, where we (1) test the hypotheses you have about your needs, (2) engage key stakeholders in aligning on the story of what is happening, why, and what learning is needed and (3) offer you a roadmap of possible options you can take moving forward. From there, we co-create a series of learning experiences including coaching, workshops, and hands-on projects to achieve your learning objectives. We provide consistent scaffolding for evaluation, tracking the learning and building the capacity to lead the work within your team into the future.
OUR IMPACT
WHAT WE DO
If we decide to continue our work together – we design one of three approaches:

Co-leading Change Projects
For teams seeking deep organizational change or long-term restructuring projects, UWC can be your long-term partner, supporting and guiding throughout the process and ensuring that the necessary foundations for transformation have been put in place. We embed within a core leadership team or planning team for the duration of the project, co-creating a path forward and executing on that plan in tandem with other stakeholders. Typically these engagements last between three and five years.
Coaching
Sometimes, after a planning team has identified a change they’d like to enact, they reach a point of stagnation, either because they’re unsure of next steps or because they’ve hit an insurmountable obstacle. In our experience, these obstacles are often due to the challenges of adult learning–understanding the techniques required to shift our own mindsets and behaviors.
You know your competencies. And you also know where you’re struggling. As proponents and coaches of lifelong learning, we can engage your planning team with the tools to overcome those struggles through a relational coaching approach that teaches hands-on practices.


Building Leadership Capacity
Often we meet people who are not seeking team coaching or support, but who would like to explore adult learning and transformational growth in their own leadership, one-on-one. For some this is an opportunity to discover adult learning tools which they can bring to their organization or team. For others, this a place to process, vent or seek support for their ongoing change projects or learning programs.
Support UWC
Through the support of community members, we distribute valuable resources to a larger audience and better promote the message of–and share the tools to accomplish–lasting social change. With your help, we expand our Field Guide resources, connect with more collaborators in the space of adult learning and social change, and promote the work of our partners engaging in widespread change movements. Come join us!
MEET NICO
My passion is helping teams discover new ways to work together at the intersection of identity, strategy and team development. My goal is to reshape behaviors, learning techniques and mindsets to maximize the impact of our work in the world. That’s why I founded Up With Community.
From Chicago, I discovered community organizing as the writer, director and producer of a one-woman skit about Saul Alinksy in high school. As I explored the foundations of social justice, especially in the histories of the Polish and Indian communities from which I hail, I developed a commitment to community organizing.
Between 2007 and 2010 I served as regional field director for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a project of Community Change, and in 2009 I co-founded the country’s second largest cell phone action network, authoring a definitive guide to online and offline organizing. I continued to deepen my understanding of community transformation as the State Director of the Maine League of Young Voters and as the Director of Strategy for the Institute for Local Self Reliance.
In 2013, my love of learning and coaching around social growth led me to found Up With Community.
I live in Lewiston, Maine–my heart’s home–with my husband, Ben, and our children. And note: These are all my actual cactus babies–come visit us and them at colabcreate.space.
Ready to learn?
If it’s time to transform your team so they can transform the world, let’s connect.