We invite you to explore our work. Recent projects and presentations are listed below. You can explore additional work using the various tags in the right hand column.
The Rutland Area Farm and Food Link received a 2014 partnership grant from Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (NESARE). Rutland Area Farm and Food Link’s (RAFFL) programs link small-scale, diversified, and local farms with new…
Yellow Wood Associates is working with place-based grantees of the Walton Family Foundation in the Lower Mississippi River Region. This work is focused around nature-based tourism. Coaching work includes calls with grantees and group calls to support…
In connection with our work on the Wallace Center Nourishing Networks – Improving the Food Environment Project, Yellow Wood provided consulting services to Wallace under the Nourishing Networks: Capacity Building for Food Hubs and Regional Food Systems…
Yellow Wood worked with the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center to plan and facilitate a learning journey around arts tourism. Representatives from the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center traveled to Western North Carolina for an itinerary…
Yellow Wood worked with the Land Trust Alliance Northeast Region and the 1772 Foundation to plan and facilitate a meeting of farmland preservation grantees. The Land Trust Alliance Northeast Region has a collaborative relationship with the 1772 Foundation…
Morse Marketing, a consulting firm working in multi-sector partnerships across a variety of food-related initiatives, turned to Yellow Wood to provide guidance in evaluating the effectiveness of a Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program Educational…
Yellow Wood Associates is working with the Natural Capital Investment Fund and partners to develop outcome measures for the Rural Jobs Accelerator that capture effects on the seven forms of wealth as well as on jobs and income. We will work with NCIF…
Shanna Ratner provided coaching and mentoring to 2007 Measurement Guide Molly Anderson, Partridge Chair in Food & Sustainable Agriculture Systems, College of the Atlantic, during a You Get What You Measure® in Use session with Farm to Institution New…
Members of the April 2013 Measurement Guide class included Ashley Taylor, Wallace Center at Winrock International, Virginia; Barbara Newman, Jefferson County Department of Health, Alabama; Denise Smith, Friends of Northern Lake Champlain, Vermont;…
In connection with our work on the Wallace Center Nourishing Networks – Improving the Food Environment Project, Yellow Wood provided consulting services to Wallace under the Increasing Farmer Success in Local Food Markets in Mississippi and Alabama…
FINE is a network of organizations working to strengthen farm to institution connections throughout New England. Yellow Wood worked with FINE using You Get What You Measure® to engage multiple stakeholders in clarifying its external goals, creating…
Beginning in fall 2011, Yellow Wood Associates has worked with four Walton Family Foundation grantees along the Lower Mississippi River around nature based tourism. Focus areas for this group have included paddling tourism, non-consumptive wildlife…
Yellow Wood served as a strategic partner and facilitator for eight monthly calls with the New England Beef to Institution Steering Committee. The purpose of the group is to cultivate a Community of Practice that enables participants to discuss challenges…
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Liz Lerman invited Shanna Ratner to join them as a special guest for a conversation about wealth and poverty in America at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. The conversation took place as part of "Blood, Muscle, Bone:…
Members of the November 2012 Measurement Guide class included Jeff Farbman, Wallace Center at Winrock International, Virginia; Katie Enterline, Wallace Center at Winrock International, Virginia; Stacia Kiraly, Wallace Center at Winrock International,…
Members of the April 2012 Measurement Guide class included Ben Lesser, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.; Greg Hessel, ReGeneration Resources, Vermont; Jackie LeBlanc, Yellow Wood Associates, Vermont; and Michael Hancox, Skeo Solutions,…
Yellow Wood provided coaching in wealth creation value chain development and conducting demand-related research for four nature-based tourism pilot projects in the Lower Mississippi Delta. We also provided coaching services for a team working with…
In an effort to help the Northeast and Midwest meet their needs for renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction through the sustainable utilization of woody biomass, the U.S. Forest Service engaged Yellow Wood Associates in conducting third party…
Panelists Kamalesh Doshi and Samantha Dunn, along with panel organizer Sarah S. Smith, discussed the The Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy (the Roadmap) as part of a panel at the Woody Biomass Energy Research Symposium. The roadmap…
Shanna Ratner presented a pre-conference session on Wealth Creation in Rural Communities at the Appalachia Funders Network's Second Annual Gathering in Charleston, West Virginia.
Members of the November 2011 Measurement Guide class included Ann Jones-Weinstock, NRG Systems, Vermont; Deb Markley, Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, North Carolina; and Marilyn Hoke, Community Resource Group, Arkansas. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has…
Members of the March 2011 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Katy Allen, Rural Support Partners, North Carolina; Thomas Watson, Rural Support Partners, North Carolina; Judy Anderson, Community Consultants, New York; Ruth Feldman, Project for…
Shanna Ratner participated in an ad hoc think tank convened by Appalachian Sustainable Development on the role of social enterprises in building and strengthening local food value chains. 25 representatives of businesses, nonprofit organizations, and…
Yellow Wood presented two workshops to the Walton Family Foundation Nature-Based Tourism Group of grantees along the lower Mississippi River Delta. The first workshop was around goals, value chains and wealth creation. Participants articulated goals…
Shanna Ratner participated as a speaker/panelist in a call discussing how communities can help to create business opportunities and mentor the entrepreneurs who can help them grow.
Yellow Wood was asked to provide technical assistance to the Green Forest Products Collaborative to assess the level of demand opportunity in the region’s institutions and government agencies. Yellow Wood performed a scan of the region and identified…
The May 2010 class of Measurement Guides included Jeremy Phillips, Jeremy Phillips Consulting, Massachusetts; Ora Grodsky, Just Works Consulting, Massachusetts; and Samantha Dunn, Yellow Wood Associates. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals…
Shanna Ratner, Principal, presented on "Local Wealth Creation, Diversification and Retention." This presentation provided an overview of the wealth creation approach to rural development and the Ford Foundation's…
The Central Appalachian Network (CAN) is a group of seven nonprofits in the Central Appalachian states of Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia focused on transforming Central Appalachia’s economy by creating economic opportunities…
Yellow Wood Associates was selected as the evaluator for the Advantage Valley Entrepreneurial Development System. Advantage Valley was one of six initiatives funded by the Kellogg Foundation to experiment with a variety of approaches for encouraging…
Shanna Ratner delivered a You Get What You Measure® in Use workshop to staff and board members of community foundations seeking to become leaders in their communities. The Community Leadership Network Peer-Learning Institute in Georgia was sponsored…
Shanna Ratner delivered a You Get What You Measure® in Use workshop to staff and board members of community foundations seeking to become leaders in their communities. The Community Leadership Network Peer-Learning Institute in Minnesota was sponsored…
Yellow Wood Associates delivered a workshop on measuring the economic impact of Byway designation to the Connecticut River Joint Commissions.
Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates planned for and facilitated a Community Forest Workshop in Shelburne, New Hampshire on Saturday, May 17 using Yellow Wood’s See the Forest® approach. Yellow Wood assisted with planning the agenda, developing…
The November 2007 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Molly Anderson, College of the Atlantic, Maine; Valerie Esposito, Gund Institute, Vermont; and Daniel Spies, consultant, Illinois. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals…
Yellow Wood worked with 9 communities throughout New England on inventory and assessment and research on alternative technologies.
Yellow Wood was selected to design and facilitate a one and a half day workshop to explore and develop relationships among urban, rural, and suburban practitioners of community forestry with a focus on markets for forest products and services. The…
Yellow Wood evaluated the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and its work helping advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education…
The November 2006 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Kimberly Norris, EcoEval, Maryland; and Susan Koschak, America’s Byways, Minnesota. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals with facilitation skills the opportunity to become…
Appalachian Sustainable Development, the Center for Economic Options, and the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development asked Yellow Wood to provide facilitation services for their collaboration. The purpose of the collaboration was to…
Prepared a concept paper on wealth and sustainability and their relationships to one another for use by the Northern Forest Center and the North Country Council in developing principles to guide the Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative. Meet…
Shanna Ratner presented “Cost-effective Green Technologies for Communities” on October 12, 2005, at the 5th Annual Empire Energy and Environmental Exposition in Saratoga Springs, New York. Towns and villages are greening up. Governments…
Melissa Levy presented on Green Community Technologies® as part of the "Building Health Communities" session at the 2005 Vermont Planning Celebration. The presentation discussed identifying new technologies and sustainable approaches to managing community…
The November 2005 class of Measurement Guides included Jeff Forward, Forward Thinking Consultants, Vermont; Joy Stalker, Rural Health Network of South Central New York; Christine Berwald, Rural Health Network of South Central New York; and Charlie…
Members of the February 2005 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Lorie Higgins, University of Idaho and Susan Youmans, Executive Director, Environmental Partnerships, Inc., Massachusetts. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals…
Yellow Wood presented "Assessing Rural Community Infrastructure to Cut Costs and Protect the Environment" at the 27th Annual Municipal Officers' Management Seminars in October 2004. Participants learned about the range of alternative technologies available…
Shanna Ratner presented "Greening Government Operations" on October 12, 2004, at the 2004 Empire Energy and Environmental Exposition in Saratoga Springs, NY. This presentation showed the usefulness of considering tradeoffs between deferred maintenance…
Members of the November 2004 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Monica Stone, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Samin Dadelahi, Wyoming Community Foundation. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals with facilitation…
Citizens and communities of the Northern Forest region have demonstrated the power of local knowledge and participatory research thanks to a grant from the US Department of Agriculture. Over the course of four years, the National Community Forestry…
The Southern New England Forest Consortium sponsored development of materials and implementation of See the Forest for communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Participants learned about forest health, forest economics, and institutional…
Shanna Ratner spoke as a panelist on the subject of economic forces shaping the Northern Forest Region and the region’s place in an increasingly global economy.
Thanks for being a part of the day one doings.…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. assessed the feasibility of developing a shared-use kitchen incubator in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania. Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with project partners to develop goals for the proposed facility,…
Members of the August 2002 Becoming a Measurement Guide class included LaDonna Coy, Southwest CAPT, Oklahoma; Kerstin Gorham, Northwest Area Foundation, Minnesota; and Karen Affeld, Rural Action, Ohio. Since 2002, Yellow Wood has been offering professionals…
Members of the first Becoming a Measurement Guide class included Sunny Walker, SunWalker Enterprises, Colorado; Suzanne Hughes, ACT Missouri; Jon Zeltsman, Zeltsman Associates, New York; and Michaela Stickney, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Since…
The Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group, which is administering the Ford Foundation’s Community-Based Forestry Initiative in the United States, invited Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates to review and analyze the monitoring plans of nine…
Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. was invited by the Northwest Area Foundation of St. Paul, Minnesota to work with grantees receiving support under its Regional Center Initiative. Grantees received significant financial support to prepare…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with NESARE in piloting an outcome-funding approach to grantmaking. The work included two year’s participation in the design process, proposal reviews, interviews with potential grantees, committee work to select…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. provided an inventory and assessment of hiking and walking resources in the Lake Champlain Basin. The work was undertaken as part of a bi-state Lake Champlain Byways Management Plan, and produced a database and maps with…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. evaluated the feasibility of establishing a facility and demonstration forest to support and coordinate progressive logger training for the region encompassing northern Vermont and New Hampshire. This project was based…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with conservation commissions in Starksboro and Huntington, Vermont to develop a community-based education program designed to help communities appreciate forests as economic, environmental and social assets. The…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. coordinated the design and implementation of public involvement needed in assessing the management of 700,000 acres of New York State multiple-use forest land for SmartWood certification. Activities included press releases,…
Served a three-year term on the Administrative Council of the Northeast Region’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. performed a review of the SmartWood certification guidelines for green certification of logs, lumber and wood products. Linking consumer consciousness with sustainable forestry practices, the assessment was conducted with…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared a paper on the concept of learning communities for the Appalachian Regional Commission. The paper focused on how to identify traits common to learning communities and how to foster the development of these community…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. prepared a study for a Forest Resource Center, including a forest heritage program, an incubator for secondary wood processing companies, and a training program for loggers. The study also researched and compared similar…
Ms. Ratner spoke on the topic of "Creating Learning Communities" to community development practitioners in six communities who have been working for four years to promote community sustainability.
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
One of a series of Rural Community Assistance regional trainings that Yellow Wood co-faciliated with staff of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development, as part of their work with the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, for the…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Connecticut River Joint Commissions of New Hampshire to plan a conference for growers, buyers and others interested. Results included a written summary of agricultural production and marketing trends in…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. provided project management and conducted research on behalf of the Lake Champlain Management Conference to recommend possible alternatives, modifications and/or enhancements to existing institutional and funding arrangements…
Presented “The Canadian Connection in the Northeast Wood Products Industry” to the New England Society of American Foresters. The talk incorporated recent research into global economic trends affecting the forest industry, log exporting, and the US-Canada…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. co-organized a regional wholesale produce marketing workshop for growers and buyers, developed a detailed organizational plan for the New England Produce Program, and prepared a guidebook for direct and traditional wholesale…
Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. identified the potential for regional wholesale marketing of locally grown produce in the Connecticut River Valley including Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Funding was received through a Federal/State…
