Root Rise Grow

Helping rural communities turn good ideas into work that can actually happen.

Root Rise Grow is the consulting and community-development arm of my work. I partner with nonprofits, local leaders, small businesses, producers, and community coalitions to design and carry out practical, people-centered projects.

My work often begins when a community knows something needs to change; but the path forward is unclear, capacity is limited, or the right people haven’t yet been brought to the same table. I help organize the pieces: clarifying the need, engaging the people most affected, building partnerships, developing a workable plan, and finding the resources to move it forward.

How I Can Help

Community engagement and facilitated planning
Program and project design
Coalition building and partner coordination
Grant strategy and proposal development
Implementation planning, budgets, and outcomes
Feasibility research and early-stage project development
Sustainability and funding planning

My work is especially rooted in local food systems, food access, rural health and well-being, clean energy and energy efficiency, housing, community resilience, and rural entrepreneurship.

Selected Work

Pratt County Food Resource Coalition

I help organize and support a cross-sector coalition working to strengthen food access and community resilience in Pratt County. Our work brings together food assistance organizations, schools, producers, nonprofits, funders, civic partners, and community members.

Projects have included food-resource outreach, emergency food programs, volunteer coordination, local food and garden initiatives, organizational capacity building, grant development, and long-term sustainability planning. I also helped develop and secure support for a Kansas Rural Champion project focused on strengthening the county’s food-resource network and moving community priorities into implementation.

Rural Food Market and Infrastructure Development

Through Root Rise Grow and South Fork Farm, I am exploring practical ways to connect local producers with households, restaurants, retailers, and food-access organizations.

This work includes producer and customer discovery, direct-market pilots, regulatory and licensing research, funding development, technology exploration, and early feasibility work for a local food market, distribution point, and potential shared-use kitchen. Because I am also a small producer, I approach this work with firsthand knowledge of the barriers rural growers and food businesses face.

Training Development

From 2023-2025, I managed a 2-year contract to develop training modules supporting self-care, healthy boundaries, and wellness for certified peer support specialists.

The project included coordinating subcontractors and consultants, managing the budget and deliverables, guiding content development, and moving a complex, multi-partner project from concept through completion.

Energy Efficiency and Program Development

From 2023–2025, I served as a program director working on statewide clean-energy and energy-efficiency initiatives in Kansas. My work included program development, contractor and workforce engagement, partnership building, training coordination, grant and contract management, and translating complex state and federal opportunities into practical programs.

Public-Sector Program Implementation

Earlier in my career, I worked on large-scale public-sector programs and digital service delivery. That experience taught me how to manage complex requirements, coordinate across agencies and partners, build processes from the ground up, and make complicated systems more understandable and usable for the people they are meant to serve.

My Approach

I don’t believe a grant application should be the beginning, nor the entirety, of a community strategy. Strong proposals grow from clear goals, credible partnerships, realistic budgets, and a plan that people have the capacity to carry out.

My approach is grounded, relational, and tailored to the place and people involved. I can help facilitate the early conversations, build the plan, develop the funding strategy, or provide hands-on project support as an idea moves toward implementation.

Let’s Talk

Do you have a promising project but need help organizing the pieces, bringing partners together, or moving it into its next phase?

I take on a limited number of consulting, facilitation, and project-development engagements, particularly for rural Kansas organizations and initiatives with the potential for meaningful, lasting community impact.

Contact Me