Organization & Community Development

No one creates change alone.

Circles of Change helps groups collaborate, learn, and act — using participatory facilitation that turns the people in the room into the authors and stewards of lasting change.

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Sound familiar?

Change that doesn't stick.

Change fails for lots of reasons — strategy, resources, follow-through. But one gets overlooked more than most: the people who have to live with the change had no hand in shaping it.

You've probably seen it:

When people help build the change they're being asked to make, something shifts — ownership takes root, resistance fades, and it actually lasts. That's the work we do.

Robert Quintana Hopkins

The facilitator

Robert Quintana Hopkins, PhD

An organizational development consultant and Certified Technology of Participation™ Facilitator (CTF) and Mentor Trainer (MT) in the Institute of Cultural Affairs' Technology of Participation methods.

Drawing on 20 years of leadership and management experience, Robert helps teams clarify their direction, develop action plans they're committed to, and build the collaboration to carry them out. When people are genuinely involved, they bring more effort, stronger relationships, and shared ownership of the result.

He also teaches in the Learning, Leadership, and Change program at Benerd College, the graduate school at the University of the Pacific.

PhD ICA ToP CTF · Certified ToP Facilitator MT · Mentor Trainer Group Process Facilitator Educator
See Robert's work on LinkedIn →

Why circles

An ancient technology for change.

Circles are one of the oldest ways people have gathered to create personal, organizational, and social change. They appear across cultures under many names — book clubs, elders' councils, quality circles, lending circles, and talking circles. Their power comes from thinking together in a space safe enough for curiosity, exploration, learning, and action — the conditions where a group does its best work.

Our process

Change that builds on itself

Four phases run as a continuous loop — assess, plan, act, evaluate — with learning at the center, shaping every one of them. We keep cycling until the goal is met, each step informed by what the last one taught us.

At the heart
Learn
Observe, reflect, interpret, and adapt — throughout every phase.
01Assess — Gather internal and external data to surface trends, strengths, opportunities, and gaps.

↻ Learning runs through all four phases

Core

Learn

Observe, reflect, interpret, and adapt — continuously, throughout all four phases.

01

Assess

Gather internal and external data to surface trends, strengths, opportunities, and gaps.

02

Plan

Build a long-term strategy and a concrete short-term action plan the group owns.

03

Act

Put the plan to work, with stakeholders holding the right level of ownership.

04

Evaluate

Measure outcomes against the targets and success indicators set up front.

↻ a continuous cycle

The Activist Facilitator Framework

Activist facilitation as a path to just and inclusive systems.

Most facilitation aims for agreement. This framework aims further — at equity itself. Four practices, moved through again and again, each turn of the spiral deepening a group's collective power to build just and inclusive systems.

Critical Consciousness

See how systems create privilege and oppression — and claim the agency to challenge them.

Lead with Care

Treat care as both means and end, building structures that meet the needs of all.

Collective Action for Liberation

Unite diverse allies in iterative action toward lasting systemic change.

Participatory Group Process Design & Facilitation

Design with the people most impacted, not for them — centering their voices and decisions.

Just and Inclusive Systems

Power, resources, and outcomes shared fairly — where everyone can participate fully.

↻ Working across self, group, and the systems we live in — a spiral, not a checklist

The Activist Facilitator Framework © Robert C. Quintana Hopkins

Grounded in Robert's doctoral research — Caring as Radical Organization Development — and the Technology of Participation tradition.

Explore the full framework →

How we help

A full circle of support

Whatever the entry point, the aim is the same — change your people own and can sustain.

Consulting

Strategy your team will actually act on.

  • Participatory strategic planning
  • Collaborative action planning
  • Strategic implementation
  • Team assessments
  • Team development

Facilitation

Gatherings that reach real decisions — with every voice heard.

  • Offsites & retreats
  • Meeting design & facilitation
  • Community & stakeholder input
  • Action learning
  • Focus groups

Training

So your people can lead these conversations without you.

  • Group facilitation skills
  • Custom team workshops
  • Meeting design fundamentals
  • Participatory methods coaching

Results

Proof in practice

A divided volunteer committee → a profitable, well-run festival.

Over four years, we helped a regional arts nonprofit’s all-volunteer festival committee align through action planning and role descriptions — turning a group that had struggled together into a high-performing, aligned team.

“He took a group of passionate and opinionated individuals and turned us into a well-oiled and fully prepared team… I would highly recommend Quintana Hopkins to any organization looking to grow their capacity.”
— Executive Director, regional arts nonprofit

Priority-setting for an award-winning team.

We met with this nationally recognized team annually for three years — reviewing the previous year and setting priorities for the year ahead. At the same time, we trained them in ToP facilitation methods, so they now have the internal capacity to facilitate their work on their own.

“Robert led a very successful strategic planning session with me and my team. His positive energy and skill helped create a highly collaborative atmosphere with actionable and tangible outcomes.”
— Program Manager, county government · multi-year engagement

One of the best-facilitated discussions ever experienced.

“Your facilitation was excellent! You provided plenty of space for all to talk, but kept things moving. One of the most well facilitated group discussions I have been through. Great record keeping and a meaningful process leading to interesting insights.”
— Participant, strategic action planning workshop

Trusted by nonprofits · corporations · government · universities

Nonprofits Corporations Government agencies Universities

Let's begin

Change starts when people come together.

Tell us the outcomes you're after, your timeline, and the scope — and we'll figure out the right level of stakeholder involvement together.

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