SF&A provides fractional and on-demand economic and community development services to smaller communities that need professional capacity but lack the resources for a full-time staff role. Contract and retainer models are available for comprehensive EDO/CDO management.

Specializations include Main Street Placemaking, revitalization planning, infrastructure resource development, recreation economies, and public-private partnerships for project delivery.

The Community Catalyst Fellowship (CCF) provides hands-on training, instruction, and mentorship to grow placed-based staff into capable leaders in community and economic development.

Instructional programming follows a small-cohort format, with SF&A staff guiding Fellows through the various approaches to evaluating and addressing real-world problems. The Fellow will undergo 8 months of professional development—mastering the laws, institutional norms, policies, financial models, and communication skills required to execute the jobs.

Fellows learn by doing, and by producing useful work for your community. As part of the Fellowship, your staffer creates your Key Site Inventory and Strategic Plan as part of their coursework. You get a trained leader & a year’s work of foundational community-based economic consulting groundwork, developed by your staffer with the support of SF&A’s seasoned experts.

Many economic and community development programs under-perform because key players aren’t fully engaged. If engagement with your Chamber, CVB, Main Street, Hospital, Schools, Religious Institutions, Arts Communities, Civic Organizations, Nonprofit Organizations, and Community Foundations is hit-or-miss, of if you only reach out when you need letters of support for a big grant application, we can help get your entire civic community pulling in the same direction.

We can touch base with the full spectrum of civic stakeholders to elicit detailed feedback and ideas, seek opportunities for collaborative approaches and resources, and help ensure that your community is engaged together in the work of building a thriving place.