The District Bridges Approach

District Bridges Consulting

Building Stronger More Connected Communities

Dedicated to supporting small businesses and investing in community, District Bridges is a solutions-driven organization specialized in socially impactful community development and micro-economic growth. 

Our consulting services focus on our clients’ most critical issues, opportunities, and objectives. We bring deep, functional expertise, but are known for our holistic approach to urban development that strengthens existing communities. We recognize the value in economic hubs, focusing on both individual businesses and stakeholders as well as the overall prosperity of the broader community. 

We’ve found that, too often, community development work falls into two camps – the theoretical, with fascinating potential but little actionable and measurable activities, and the practical, which is often undertaken in a silo with little connection to resources, theory, or history. We leverage our collective expertise, practical tools, and on-the-ground experience of our community development professionals, helping leaders define, achieve, and measure success to the benefit of all.

Organizational Capacity Building

The most impactful and dynamic organizations are built on a solid foundation of strategic planning, best practices and intentional implementation. District Bridges’ organizational capacity-building services help nonprofits and NGOs lay the organizational “cornerstones” to achieve the mission and vision, have more impact, and do it sustainably. We work with communities and organizations to understand their goals, identify their challenges, and design a pathway forward to ensure you achieve your mission.

Thought Leadership

We’ve found that, too often, community development work falls into two camps – the theoretical, with fascinating potential but little actionable and measurable activities, and the practical, which is often undertaken in a silo with little connection to resources or theory. We want to help organizations and communities bridge this gap to develop holistic and sustainable community development practices in their communities. Through our thought leadership work, District Bridges is actively seeking opportunities to share about what we’ve learned and are learning through our work. Whether that is writing, speaking, or presenting opportunities our team of experts can speak to a wide range of community development subjects.

Community Engagement & Placemaking

It is people who make a community. We believe that community development should be human-scaled and community-centric, but to do that you have to be intentional about development at every level. Our team works with communities to design and manage community-designed, built, and driven initiatives that work to create more equitable, resilient, and connect communities.

Small Business Technical Assistance Program Development

Through our SBTA Program Development, we help you assess the specific needs of your businesses and develop relevant technical assistance to deliver the support they need most. Don’t recreate the wheel! We will help you develop programs that incorporate best practices from across the country to support your business community.

Measurement & Evaluation

How do you know if your programs are successful? Are you getting a return on the time, money, or connections you are investing in the projects and programs you’re pursuing? If you’re not measuring then you don’t know. Through systematic evaluation and optimization, we help organizations like yours measure, analyze and optimize your programs and systems.

Research & Policy

Many of the challenges we see our communities and small businesses facing are systemic and will require a holistic multi-sector approach if we have any hope of addressing them. Our research and policy work is trying to tackling some of the pressing issues we see and the cascading impacts that policy can have on the development of our communities. Tackle these challenges we are working with communities to: