Testimonials
I got to know Janne working on a collaborative effort to make Hennepin County streets safer. The thing that really stood out from the beginning was how intersectional her approach to transportation advocacy is. She connects land use, transportation, affordable housing, health, and racial equity.
-Ashwat Narayanan, Executive Director, Our Streets Minneapolis
You engage people in new activities. The notecard activity – I’d never done anything like that before. It was so fun and energizing and exciting. Sometimes you need a novel activity to get at what you need to do. Sometimes you just need to do something that isn’t the same thing you always do to shake up your brain. You offer that in a really thoughtful way.
-Annika Brindel, Midwest Director of Energy Efficiency Policy at National Housing Trust
Janne Flisrand is an energizing organizer and a forceful commentator on racial equity in cities. Through her work with Neighbors for More Neighbors, she tells the story of how Minneapolis skillfully confronted its racist histories of urban planning, and how Neighbors for More Neighbors communicated the value of density to an unlikely audience and helped to drive a housing solution that will improve the city today.
-Daniel McPhee, Executive Director, Urban Design Forum
Janne can enter a complex and challenging situation, understand it, develop a practical and actionable plan, and see through fixing the problem. She can provide invaluable coaching and mentorship to team members at all levels of experience, seeing needs and building capacity to shore up weak points in a team or program.
-Jon Braman, Executive Vice President Strategic Initiatives, Bright Power
Janne is the consummate facilitator. Regardless of who is at the table, Janne reaches out and engages each individual. She ensures that everyone is heard, lifting up quieter voices while tempering louder ones. This particular task force was populated with knowledgeable people with big personalities and divergent agendas, and the whole time Janne moved us toward a unified goal. She does all of this with such grace and apparent ease, never being pushy or rude. … I sincerely appreciate Janne’s preparation, structure, and her ability to direct participants to consensus.
–Kurt Schultz, Sustainability Facilitator for the Saint Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development
Janne is very attuned to her audience. She thinks critically and quickly sees the motivations of stakeholders. The problems she works on, though partially technical, are primarily about systems people have created. It is critical that a facilitator or project consultant understand the people involved.
-Katie Jones, Community Program and Policy Manager, CEE