At the Liminal Edge: A Year of Collaboration, Learning, and Possibility

We spend a lot of time thinking about thresholds, the moments when something old is giving way to something new. When possibility is present but not yet fully formed. As we close up shop for 2025 and prepare to step into the holidays with family, friends, and (we hope) a little rest, we find ourselves standing squarely in one of those liminal spaces. 

This year was filled with pinch me moments: helping powerful partnerships emerge, creating space for courageous community leaders, linking arms with partners to boldly experiment, and through it all - doing work we truly love alongside people who care fiercely about their places and their people. What follows is a brief reflection on a few of the partnerships that shaped our year and what we are carrying forward.  

Digital Opportunities 

Over the course of the year, we facilitated and provided coaching to a learning cohort for more than 50 organizations across nine regional collaboratives in Western North Carolina - all working together to expand access, skills, and engagement in the digital world. 

This fall, our evaluation report affirmed what we were witnessing in real time. A result that we’re excited about is that both quantitative and qualitative data show that the collaboratives are gathering more diverse perspectives and building more inclusive and equitable practices, holding up Liminal Collaboration’s long-held belief that collaboration is inclusion in practice.  

Beyond the numbers, one of the most profound lessons was the visible link between personal development and community development. We watched individuals grow in confidence, self-awareness, and leadership and saw how that inner work translated directly into stronger collaboration, better decision-making, and more impactful community outcomes. Leaders can emerge from collaboratives, and collaboratives emerge from leaders.  

This initiative reaffirms that strong convening organizations matter, that collaboration helps groups turn systems-thinking into action, and that sustained investment in collaboration itself creates lasting returns. 

National Connect Church 

We were also fortunate to work with our longtime partners at the North Carolina Rural Center as they expanded their highly successful Connect Church program beyond North Carolina. 

Connect Church is a transformative, faith-rooted approach to community engagement grounded in Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) within rural settings. Rather than centering deficits or focusing only on needs, the program helps congregations recognize and mobilize the gifts already present within their communities.  

This year, our role focused on helping build the infrastructure needed to scale nationally, including curriculum redesign, facilitator guidance, and evaluation approaches that support consistency and learning across contexts. This project allowed us to lean into the work we love most: writing, deep thinking, and cocreating alongside thoughtful, values-driven partners. We are excited to hear about how local, rural trainers and laity are making impacts beyond the walls of their church in the coming years. 

Civic Leadership

This year we continued our work with an inspiring group of civic leaders in the Dan River Region, supporting the development of a shared civic leadership framework. This framework articulates principles, leadership practices, and pillars for building a community where everyone can participate and everyone can lead. 

At its core, the framework affirms that leadership is an activity, a journey, and a relationship, it’s authentic and strategic – and that civic leadership starts with the individual on moves on to understanding content, cultivating relationships, energizing others and moving to action.  

 Through our work with the Civic Leadership Working Group, we also had the opportunity to design and facilitate group conversations at the Home of Future Thinking event, supported by the Danville Regional Foundation and the Harvest Foundation. More than 75 passionate community members came together, and a clear call emerged for stronger regional collaboration, particularly around civic leadership, housing, and quality of life. 

We are energized by the possibility of continuing this work alongside civic leaders in the region as they build shared structures and vision to ensure that growth benefits everyone. 

Our Partnerships 

In addition, we partnered with leaders working to improve adolescent reproductive and maternal health outcomes and with VFW Post 2740 in Durham as they build an inclusive community space connecting veterans and residents of the Bragtown community. Each of these efforts reflects our belief that collaboration looks different in every context and that community-led solutions matter at every scale. 

Growing Our Team and Deepening Our Capacity 

One of the most exciting milestones of the year was expanding beyond our founding duo. We were thrilled to welcome Nina Kaur as our Director of Operations and Collaborative Leader and Digital Learning Fellow. Nina is already taking Liminal Collaboration to a new level, and we cannot wait to share what’s ahead. 

We also had the great pleasure of working with Gladys Hairston, who is leading our learning and evaluation work and helping demonstrate something we firmly believe: you can evaluate civic capacity, collaboration, and leadership with creativity, rigor and partnership with community. She is helping us learn, and building our capacity, just like she’s doing with collaborative partners and funders! We will have a lot more to share about growing this area of our work throughout 2026.  

What We’re Learning…

As we reflect on the year, a few lessons rose to the surface: 

• Collaboration can scale - and it works. 

• Collaboration helps people and groups turn systems thinking into action. 

• Civic leadership is the foundation of effective collaboration and creates a virtuous cycle. 

• Investing in people sets groups up for long-term success. 

• Effective collaboration leads to more inclusive community decision-making both within and outside of the collaboration. 

• Strong convening organizations (hubs) are essential. 

• Meaningful collaboration, civic capacity, and collaborative leadership can be evaluated and can help communities better identify areas of strength and areas for growth. 

Looking Ahead 

Ultimately, this work is awe inspiring. We are forever grateful for the trust our partners place in us and for the opportunity to stand alongside communities at moments of possibility!