By: Makeda Marshall-NeSmith
If there’s one thread that ties all of my work together — from social work to education reform, from housing to planning, from birth justice to farming — it is facilitation. My work has always been about more than programs or policies; it’s about creating spaces where people can learn what they need, find their voice, and advocate for themselves.
I first learned this in social work, while supporting the Bridges 2 Health program. The program’s aim was to keep children out of institutions by wrapping them in community-based services. But what I found most powerful wasn’t just connecting families to resources — it was listening. Sitting with families, hearing their stories, and helping them name their own needs. Facilitation meant holding space where parents and children could see themselves as part of the solution, not just as recipients of services.
That same skill carried into my work in education and housing. I have seen firsthand that a child’s education is directly tied to their housing stability — and vice versa. Families live at that intersection every day, even when the systems around them don’t. As a facilitator, I’ve brought educators, housing providers, and community members into conversation with one another, helping them make the connections that families already know to be true.
Facilitation has also been at the heart of my trauma-informed housing work. When I wrote about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their impact on long-term growth, my goal was not just to share research — it was to help communities connect their lived experiences of trauma and resilience to the systems that shape their lives. I’ve seen how powerful it is when facilitation allows residents, practitioners, and policymakers to sit together, share stories, and design housing that doesn’t just shelter but heals.
Even in birth justice and farming, facilitation plays a critical role. Birth justice requires centering the voices of birthing people and families — making sure their experiences shape the care they receive. Food justice requires listening to farmers and community members about what they need to feed themselves and their neighbors. Facilitation ensures that those voices are not drowned out by louder systems or siloed expertise.
True collaboration is not easy. It requires patience, humility, and a willingness to admit that no single sector has all the answers. But facilitation is what makes that collaboration possible. It creates the container where expertise from every angle — professional, generational, cultural, lived — can come together.
This is the work I love: building bridges, not just across sectors but across people. Because when communities learn, speak, and advocate for themselves, solutions become more sustainable, more authentic, and more just.
Sankofa Community Welness 