Cormac is Managing Director of Nurture Development and a faculty member of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University, Chicago. He has trained communities, agencies, NGOs and governments in ABCD and other strengths based approaches in Kenya, Southern Sudan, South Africa, the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia. He uses skills and processes including World Café, Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology alongside strength based thinking to support those with whom he works to move towards inclusive, actionable change.
In January 2011 Cormac was appointed to the Expert Reference Group on Community Organising and Communities First, by Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society in the UK. Some current/recent examples of his national and international work include the following:
- He sits on the Health Empowerment Leverage Project steering group, which was commissioned by the Department of Health (UK) this year to demonstrate the business case for wider use of community-based methods of health improvement.
- Working closely with Local Government Improvement & Development (Healthy Communities) in the UK, advising them on the development of an asset based approach to health and on addressing health inequalities in low income communities. Advising on their ground breaking report: The Glass Half Full: how an assets approach can improve community health and wellbeing.
- Cormac has also delivered strengths based workshops to Sandwell Council, to The Forest of Dean District Council’s Local Strategic Partnership, Gloucestershire County Council, and Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council (Children Services) in association with Lives Through Friends Ltd.
- Leading all national sporting organisations in Canada, in conjunction with the Canadian Council for Ethics in Sport, to adopt a shared vision as to how sport can become an asset for community building throughout Canada. This is effecting significant changes in the structures of major sporting organisations but also at a local community level in terms of community empowerment and citizen driven development.
- Leading out a national programme in partnership with Youth Work Ireland in promoting strengths based approaches to working with young people. This involved hundreds of youth practitioners and will over time impact on thousands of young citizens, leading to the development of a strong culture of youth led initiatives throughout Ireland.
- Working in partnership with the University of Limerick and Atlantic Philanthropies in Ireland to infuse an ABCD approach across the entire city of Limerick. Part of this process involved organising an entire neighbourhood to address issues of loneliness, fear and intimidation and to support citizen driven development. The long-term vision is of a city that puts citizens and communities in the driving seat, through processes of neighbourhood organising and bottom up planning and where services are organised in the way in which community is organised. This aligns closely to the Seattle model.
- Ongoing adviser to Dublin City Council on the implementation of the Council’s Community Development and Neighbourhood Revitalisation Strategy.
Colleen Quinn B.Ed. MBS (HRM) is co-director of Nurture Development. She is a skilled and decisive facilitator and trainer who brings her many years of experience in the corporate world into her work with the public and third sector. She was Deputy Chief Executive with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland from 2000 to 2006. Her expertise lies in the area of event management, programme development and strategic planning.
She was Technical Advisor to the Irish representative on the Professional Accountants in the Business Committee of the International Federation of Accountants and she also represented the CPA Institute on the Forfas Euro Changeover Committee. Colleen holds a degree in education and a Masters in Busines Studies from the Smurfit Graduate Business School, UCD. She is a Pacific Institute trained facilitator and delivers on the STEPS and Investment in Excellence programmes for community and corporate groups. She is co-director of Nurture Development.