Testimonials

“Working with Uncommon Bridges was an invaluable part of our community-driven placemaking activation project for Waterfront Park. Their team brought both skill and sensitivity to the facilitation of our committee meetings, ensuring that every voice was heard and that the process stayed true to our community-driven goals. They created a welcoming and structured space where complex ideas could be explored, refined, and translated into actionable steps.

Because of their guidance, our committees were able to move from broad visioning into clear priorities and creative concepts that will shape meaningful activations at Waterfront Park. We deeply appreciated their ability to balance structure with flexibility, to listen deeply, and to keep our work anchored in equity and inclusion. We would recommend Uncommon Bridges, especially Ishmael, Ariam, and Charlotte, who worked with us, to any organization seeking thoughtful, effective facilitation that brings out the best in collective visioning and decision-making.”

“The strategic planning process that we embarked on with Uncommon Bridges was unlike anything we had ever taken on as an organization. We had previously looked at our strategic plan as something that the board of directors and the CEO cooked up together in a one-day session, and then everyone was just sort of required to try to make it happen. Uncommon Bridges flipped that entire concept on its head and created a process that ensured that this plan was something that people could see themselves reflected in. It completely changed how we talk about our work and see the value of our individual roles and the connectivity between the different departments.”  

"Thank you so much for supporting the work of Pierce County and all the cities and towns that call Pierce County home. We are looking forward to a human-centered design as we work on housing for those who are seeking a place to call home."

“...Approximately a third of the committee membership are individuals with lived experience with complex mental and behavioral health issues, housing instability, homelessness, and residing in permanent supportive housing.

Uncommon Bridges has been able to facilitate the discussions to ensure multiple approaches capture the voice of many individuals while moving through difficult and challenging conversations forward to move the needle on increasing the amount of PSH, sustaining, and increasing the quality.”

“Since completing our Strategic Plan in 2022, we have made it a part of all staff onboarding, goal setting, and it is the structure for our quarterly board report-outs. It has completely changed our culture!”

"On behalf of our agency and team, we wish to extend our gratitude for your work on this project. We learned much from your team and took away many lessons learned for how we can improve our internal engagement processes and better serve our region. We were all impressed with the attention to detail and creative approaches you brought and are extremely satisfied with the final result of this partnership."

"Ishmael, I was so impressed with you and the whole Uncommon Bridges team who helped support the Just Futures retreat. Everything was so well-planned – the space and food, the ezine, the sessions, and the participants – it was curated so beautifully! You did a fantastic job helping facilitate. I feel lucky to have been a witness and will certainly do my part to carry the work forward."

"Uncommon Bridges was fantastic as facilitators for the AV cohort. They are so good at engaging with communities dealing with all sorts of complicated topics and drawing out meaningful community contributions. They were fantastic to work with."

“Our organization was transitioning from a start-up to one that needed to implement community-based programming while still maintaining our focus on raising capital for future park improvements. Not only did we work with Uncommon Bridges* to take us through a robust strategic plan process, their team also worked collaboratively with our board and staff to take the strategic plan and turn it into a workplan that we could implement and could inform our work from day one.”

“Uncommon Bridges* managed stakeholder relationships very professionally and productively. We worked closely with them on the Seattle MID renewal, with several hundred property owners, and on the Pioneer Square BIA, with several hundred businesses. They did an outstanding job on both projects, facilitating discussions on challenging topics and leading a process where all parties had the opportunity for input.”

"Thank you all for your hard work on this report and strategic plan. It is clear, concise, and informed by thorough research. Importantly, it is set up in a way that defines the roles, responsibilities, and opportunities held by the three lead partners, which should streamline implementation."

“I first began working with Brian Douglas Scott and the team at Uncommon Bridges* as co-chair of the King County E-911 strategic planning process. This process was one filled with endless technical details and jargon that was new to the Uncommon Bridges team, but the core goal was to help multiple local governments and their respective emergency communications systems work together to form a coordinated regional approach. Uncommon Bridges successfully facilitated this process, ultimately delivering agreement with 100% consensus.”

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The Master Plan won an award from the American Planning Association chapter in WA. 

“The Downtown Pasco Master Plan provided a vision that is place-specific, with key action items and an implementable plan to invigorate this distinctive downtown and bring out its enormous potential. The jury was impressed with the implementation focus of the plan, and that it leads with culture. Some innovations included using drones to collect real-time parking data, code amendments to inspire artwork and commerce, a lighting safety activation plan, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.”