CASE STUDY

CLACKAMAS COUNTY EARLY LEARNING HUB

STRATEGIC CLARITY & ALIGNMENT

The Challenge

The Clackamas County Early Learning Hub’s Governing Council was entering a new two-year funding cycle (biennium) and needed to pause and assess: Were their vision and mission still relevant? What priorities should guide the next phase of work? How could they work together more effectively? With multiple funding streams, programs, and district partners, they needed clarity on where to focus limited resources and energy.

Approach

Two full-day retreats were designed to balance right-brain creative exploration with left-brain strategic decision-making, intentionally avoiding getting “deep in the weeds” while still producing actionable direction.

The retreats moved from understanding current reality to envisioning the future through a variety of facilitation methods, visual thinking modalities, funding and opportunity mapping, visioning, and strategic plan review.

The Impact

  • Created shared understanding of complex funding streams and program landscape
  • Developed actionable priority matrix for program decisions across the biennium
  • Aligned Governing Council on vision for Hub’s next evolution
  • Identified collaborative opportunities that could move forward without additional funding
  • Balanced exploration with decision-making—avoiding both “staying in the weeds” and vague planning

Capabilities & Roles

Capabilities Utilized: Strategic Clarity & Alignment, Visual Facilitation & Harvesting, Collaborative Design & Problem-Solving

Roles Fulfilled: Retreat Designer, Facilitator, Graphic Recorder, Visual Synthesizer

Facilitation Partner: Kevin Heibert, Resonate NW

A graphic history of the early learning HUB.
Participants working through challenges using mapping and conversation.
Graphic recording of the retreat day insights.
Retreat participants in conversation with one another.
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