cepa planning cooperative
community empowerment & planning assistance
At cepa planning cooperative we help build capacity for community groups to develop, plan and execute their own solutions to local needs. We equip citizen planners with organizational and technical skills that allow them to bridge knowledge gaps, build trust, and augment the capabilities of local government.
In Spanish, the word “cepa” refers to the underground part of a plant where the roots connect to the trunk or stem. It is the hidden nexus that stabilizes and nourishes what is visible above. We chose our name because it is the perfect analogy for what we strive to achieve in our work. We connect the tangled root network of stakeholders, ideas, experiences, and resources into a strong cepa so your project and community can grow and flourish.
cooperative solutions
Through our work, we strive to help people build relationships across differences, learn together in meaningful ways, and develop solutions that create healthier, happier, and more just communities. Our business structure is rooted in these same goals. As a worker cooperative, we are a values-driven business that prioritizes worker and community benefits in our purpose and operations.
Thriving places are built by dedicated residents and professionals who each bring their own unique skills, experiences, and perspectives to the work of improving their communities. We know that this is long-term work that requires ongoing effort beyond the term of a consulting contract. At cepa, we invite our clients to join our cooperative to connect with a network of peer communities for continued learning, engagement, and resource exchange. As the cooperative grows, our clients–past and present–benefit from a growing pool of knowledge and experience that they can continue to access to support their own work.
At cepa, we believe in building processes and infrastructure that facilitate meaningful community development beyond the length of any single project. While we help catalyze action in your community, our cooperative structure also allows us to set you up for long-term success.
You can learn more about worker cooperatives on our Why a Cooperative? page.
services
We work with resident groups, nonprofits, local governments, philanthropic partners, and other cooperatives to build capacity for meaningful and effective community-led planning. This includes training, education, and consulting services that can be customized to meet your needs.
training & education
- grant writing
- professional report writing
- public speaking & presentation skills
- basic GIS, data sources & thematic mapping
- field data collection & mapping
- web maps & interactive maps
- survey design
- data collection, analysis & presentation
- street design & traffic safety
- intro to urban design principles
- parking studies
- traffic/speed studies
- walkability analysis
- social determinants of health
- vital conditions for thriving communities
- policy, systems & environmental (PSE) change strategies
- finding and interpreting local health data
- understanding health disparities & health equity
- building effective multi-sector coalitions
- tools and strategies for advancing systems change
- creating a shared vision & values
- group facilitation & shared decision making
consulting
- data collection and analysis
- local environmental and policy scans
- exploration of case studies and best practices
- strategy and plan development
- qualitative & quantitative data collection and analysis
- assessment of current health status
- mapping and data visualization
- data dissemination plans and activities
- multi-sector data collection and organization to better understand systems connections
- data visualization
- evaluation of existing engagement policies, programs, and processes
- development of plans and strategies for meaningful, ongoing engagement
our team
Founder & Worker Member
Maggie Mackaman has nearly ten years of experience working with local government agencies, nonprofits, and community coalitions. She brings academic experience from the fields of geography, anthropology, and urban and regional planning and professional experience in research, strategic planning, policy analysis, and coalition building.
She provides a community health lens to the coop having led a multi-sector coalition working to advance health equity through changes in policies, systems, and the built environment. It was there that she found her passion for collaborative, community-driven change.
Maggie is committed to building relationships across sectors, fostering community leadership and ownership, and creating new possibilities for how communities work together to solve problems.
Founder & Worker Member
Steve Spears has a broad range of expertise that includes urban planning, engineering design, research, and project management. He also has more than a decade of experience in higher education and contributes expert knowledge in instructional design and delivery.
His specialization is transportation planning, with an emphasis on traffic safety for vulnerable populations. He also brings skills in data analysis and visualization and is a strong advocate for free and open source software solutions.
Though his background is technical, Steve firmly believes in a systems-oriented approach to problem solving, grounded in his training in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He also brings an international outlook to cepa planning cooperative, having lived and worked in the US, Mexico and the UK.