Every project we carry out is an opportunity for us to capitalize on the power of connectivity by sharing our journey.
We work on local, national and global projects, and cover multiple and major geographical regions.
Here you can keep up to date with our past, present and future projects.
VLCT – Welcoming and Engaging Communities Cohort
The VLCT Welcoming and Engaging Communities Cohort is a partnership with Vermont cultural transformation consultancy Abundant Sun that offers participation to municipal leaders. The main focus of Abundant Sun’s work is on improving the internal ethical climates of municipal organizations. We are working in tandem with and supporting Vermont’s IDEAL program. The two programs are distinct from one another, while at the same time they are working to improve the municipal cultures of Vermont.
Participants will join a cohort of eight Vermont municipalities on a six-month journey including eight two-hour roundtables on topics that include “Visionary Leadership,” “Employee Engagement,” and “Data Analytics & Building Strategy”. The sessions are paired with an opportunity for municipalities to collect key inclusion and belonging metrics by surveying elected officials, appointed officials, and paid staff.
We look forward to welcoming you in December 2023!
Vermont Prosperity Project
Abundant Sun is proud to be part of the Vermont Prosperity Project, a joint initiative between leading organizations in the state committed to creating a sustainable, equitable economy for all. Our goal is to shift the focus from unlimited economic growth to sustainable wellbeing and prosperity. Inspired by the principles of ecological economics and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we are exploring the growing global movement of communities, businesses, cities, and countries who are gathering around the Doughnut Economics framework, the Wellbeing Economy Alliance movement, the Circular Economy movement, and others like it. We invite you to explore these concepts in depth and discovery how we can use tools like the Doughnut Economics framework to redefine prosperity and better align initiatives already underway in Vermont.
JuJuBee Online Learning Community
JuJuBee is our latest creation that is picking up creative pace! Thank you to everyone who has registered on the platform.
What is JuJuBee?
It’s a learning management system that we have created for our clients and community partners. But, it’s also a cross-organizational networking platform to complement the work that we are all already doing, giving us all a space to collaborate, communicate, share ideas, learn and have fun.
All of Abundant Sun’s projects have special groups within JuJuBee where our community can share ideas, latest research, amazing stories and ramp up their commitment to positive cultural transformation. It drives the work of The Vermont Prosperity Project, Vermont’s Welcoming and Engaging Communities, and so much more.
This summer we embarked upon designing our first full-blown course on JuJuBee. We’ll delighted to have created four 1-hour educational videos for what will be a team of 270 Mobile Crisis Response Team members across Vermont. We’ve dug deeply into the Mental Health Reform Movement, ensuring that Vermont’s staff, in this new community-based outreach work, is best able to maintain the dignity and respect of themselves, and the members of the public that they will be serving. More on that separate project soon! Thanks to Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services for carrying the administrative torch on this one!
Vermont Racial Justice Housing Jam
In 2022, Abundant Sun was invited by Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, in conjunction with a variety of housing and finance organizations, to put together a public education series, and a roundtable series for housing practitioners, that address the racial (and economic) injustices that persist in housing today. The goal of the initiative was to examine how racial inequities impact Vermonters and identify actions, on both policy and programmatic levels, which expand access to affordable housing for all Vermonters.
We brought to the public a statewide speaker series on racial justice and equity issues relative to housing in Vermont. The series featured a mix of international national and regional leaders in racial equity and housing.
To expand on the learning of the Speaker Series, we are also made space for housing practitioners to dive more deeply into the systemic issues raised. Systemic conditions in Vermont’s housing network and organizations were addressed. The intent was to develop best practices to be adopted throughout the network. Each roundtable resulted in a set of actionable steps, not always the steps that were desired or anticipated, that participants will be able to enact within their organizations to address existing policies and practices which adversely impact Vermonters. This is a complex challenge that requires complex thinking and planning.
Abundant Sun would be delighted to provide a repeat performance to any other regions out there that are committed to helping to address more effectively and to improve the dire straits that many citizens of the world are finding themselves in as a result of the housing crisis that exists in international proportions. Get in touch with us, and let’s see what we can create. You can access the full Vermont Racial Justice Housing Jam Public Series can be enjoyed on YouTube by clicking here:
The State of Inclusion and Belonging Research Report
Over the last three years we have been busy collecting the experiences of thousands of people working for Vermont employers. We continue to seek to better understanding who, and who does not, feel a sense of inclusion and belonging within their own organization and the impact that this has on them at work.
Abundant Sun’s Inclusion & Belonging Index consists of a range of factors that measure inclusive workplaces, these include relations with colleagues, levels of dignity and respect, the commitment of employers to the DEI agenda, satisfaction with workplace cultures, and their levels of advocacy.
This fascinating process looks at which groups of people feel included; and those that don’t. Those who are prepared to “go the extra mile” and be the best cultural ambassadors to represent their Vermont organization. Conversely we can also see those that aren’t!
Add your organization to the mix of this groundbreaking research, and see where your company stands. Click here to contact us.