Building Strong Communities

Collaborating with Summer Hess on NCW Libraries' 3-year strategic direction was an inspiring experience. Leveraging our pre-pandemic long-range strategic plan as a foundation, Summer’s deep understanding of North Central Washington guided us in transforming these initial initiatives into a set of new, actionable strategic directions. Her methodical approach to strategic planning, embracing diverse perspectives and creating an inclusive environment, facilitated meaningful contributions from our board of directors, executive leadership, and marketing team. Summer excels in transforming organizational goals into strategic initiatives that enhance our vision and objectives. Her ability to identify practical strategies not only increased our brand's value and visibility but also cemented her role as an integral part of our team. Working with Summer—whose expertise and insight are unparalleled—has been a genuine pleasure.

Summer is a community leader and convener whose dedication to excellence speaks to her ability to provide invaluable guidance and support for any project she undertakes. I recently had the privilege of collaborating with Summer on a project that demanded a sharp focus on community engagement and meticulous project management. Throughout our work together, she demonstrated not only an impressive talent for conducting research critical to supporting our planning process but also a keen ability to navigate the complexities inherent in managing such projects. Notably, Summer seamlessly integrated into our team dynamic, which helped propel us toward success with remarkable efficiency. With Summer’s support, I can state with confidence that any strategic planning project stands to benefit from her exceptional leadership.

Summer provided change management support for our organization when we had the opportunity to launch a state-wide project and needed to scale quickly. She helped us articulate a new strategy and guided us through processes that set us up for long-term success. She also helped us create our own consulting framework and approach to stakeholder engagement. Her knowledge and ability around collective impact work is second to none!  

Summer is excellent at facilitating meetings and at designing an inclusive approach so that everyone feels valued and part of the process. Summer has been coordinating two working groups that are leading large-scale initiatives in the Our Valley Our Future Action Plan. Over a few short months, she has helped build trust and a shared understanding among group members, kept work moving between meetings, and effectively communicated end goals.

Summer is a true delight. She worked with the Community Building for 8 years on everything from website content and design, event planning, project management, and editing and writing a book. During that time we depended on her many gifts including leadership, persistent focus, creativity, relationship building, and her beautiful writing.

Working with Summer has been an absolute pleasure. We partnered with Summer on a project with NCW Tech Alliance to design and launch a website that hosts national community skilling campaigns. Summer’s organizational skills and attention to detail are spot-on! She has a deep understanding of how to move projects forward creatively and logistically, plus she’s an incredible thought partner in every decision. But on top of that, I really want to say that as someone who’s worked with many consultants and producers, I am struck by how much she cares about the process and final product, and how much respect and love she has for everyone she works with! We’d love to continue partnering with Summer.