INITIATIVES

CQ Strategies, LLC has provided training and consulting services to more than 275 organizations and over 7500 people between 2010 and 2023.  

Our early work was initiated through the "We All Belong" AmeriCorps training program with the City of Burlington Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO).

CEDO approached us to develop and pilot a program to support organizations engaged in change efforts to create more welcoming and equitable organizations. In the first two years, we provided 50 hours of professional development to 70 leaders representing 11 organizations, schools and city departments. Since that time many more organizations participated in the program, broadening the reach of We All Belong across Chittenden County and Vermont. A partial list of participating organizations is provided below.

In 2014, CQ Strategies was approached by the National Park Service to deliver a modified version of the We All Belong program in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.  Four organizations jointly hosted the CQ series of We All Belong / Foundations of Cultural Competency trainings:

  • National Park Service

  • Student Conservation Association

  • National Forest Service

  • Farm & Wilderness Foundation

In 2017-2019 CQ expanded We All Belong to serve the Central Vermont community, and in 2019-2020 back into Chittenden County and into the Upper Valley area. Participants in these We All Belong cohorts include:

  • Aloha Foundation

  • Athena Advocacy

  • Clean Yield Asset Management

  • Conservation Law Foundation

  • Essex High School & The Center for Technology, Essex

  • Family Center of Washington County

  • Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

  • Green Mountain Club

  • HomeShare Now

  • Hunger Mountain Co-op

  • King Arthur Flour

  • Lyme Timber Management

  • Mascoma Bank

  • Montpelier Public Schools

  • New Hampshire Charitable Fund

  • Northfield Schools

  • Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union

  • Outright Vermont

  • Pathways Vermont

  • ReSource Youth Build

  • Snelling Center for Government

  • Toxics Action Center

  • University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

  • Vermont Coalition for Ethnic Studies & Social Equity in Schools

  • Vermont College of Fine Arts

  • Vermont Community Foundation

  • Vermont Gas Systems

  • Vermont Natural Resources Council

  • Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG)

CQ Strategies has worked individually with a variety of organizations and agencies, providing introductory sessions as well as in-depth and ongoing work. A sample of these groups include:

  • Vermont Legislative Council

  • Leadership Champlain / Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce

  • LUND Family Center

  • New England Grassroots Environmental Fund

  • US Attorney’s Office - Vermont

  • Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

  • TetraTech ARD

  • Women's Rights Historical National Park, Seneca Falls, NY

  • Saint Michael’s College

  • ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center

  • Farm & Wilderness Foundation

  • American Civil Liberties Union

  • Vermont Youth Conservation Corps

  • Sterling College

  • Shelburne Museum

  • Vermont College of Fine Arts

  • VT HiTech

  • Partnership for Change

  • SerVermont

  • Champlain Valley Agency on Aging

  • Vermont Housing and Conservation Board

  • Social Security Administration

Organizations who originally participated in We All Belong in Chittenden County include:

  • Bike Recycle Vermont

  • Burlington Airport

  • Burlington City Arts

  • Burlington Community and Economic Development Office

  • Burlington Human Resources Department

  • Burlington Mayor's Office

  • Burlington Parks and Recreation Department

  • Burlington School District

  • Centre for Media and Democracy / CCTV

  • Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity

  • Dress for Success

  • ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center

  • Fletcher Free Library

  • HOPE Works

  • Local Motion

  • Northeast Organic Farmer’s Association

  • Partnership for Change

  • Saint Michael’s College

  • South Burlington School District

  • United Way of Chittenden County

  • Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

  • Vermont Legal Aid

  • Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties

  • Winooski Family Center

  • Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center

  • Women Helping Battered Women

  • YMCA Greater Burlington

  • YWCA Vermont

WE ALL BELONG participating agencies and schools have made broad and lasting improvements such as:

  • improved community relations

  • inclusive customer service standards

  • creation of diversity strategic plans

  • heightened employee morale

  • effective communication across cultures

  • implemented practices to recruit and retain diverse staff

  • strengthened relationships among staff

  • clearer strategies to achieve mission and goals

  • more diverse and engaged Boards of Directors

  • development of community building program

  • added equity policies and embedded equity statements within existing policies