What We Do
Services
Bridge to Results
Bridges are essential to any functioning system. By building bridges together, we help you address and resolve conflict, tap into the creativity of your constituents, fight prejudice and division, and improve your overall effectiveness.
Read below to learn more about some of the ways we can support you and your organization.
Facilitation
We are trained mediators and facilitators who support diverse groups to have healthy and productive conversations to increase understanding, build or repair relationships, and obtain meaningful community input on civic issues. We work with you to design and guide powerful and personalized conversations that ultimately help you reach your goals.
Training and Workshops
We will work with you to provide educational opportunities for your team or community that promote positive intergroup relations, support individuals and groups to better understand their identities, and foster a more inclusive and equitable world.
Example topics:
- Intergroup relations 101
- Communication across difference
- How to ask effective questions
- Cultural competency
- Allyship and community
- The complexity of identity
Grant-Writing and Development
We believe in expanding the capacity of organizations who build bridges and foster positive intergroup relations. We work closely with clients to help them tell their stories clearly, fully, and compellingly, and to incorporate intergroup relations into their development strategy. To date, we have written successful proposals ranging from $5,000 to $2 million.
Strategy & Programming
Have other ideas? We are open to supporting and developing projects that build authentic connection, spark deep learning, and encourage participants to ask big questions of themselves and each other.
Case Studies
Examples of Past Projects
Generating Community-sourced recommendations on policing
While at the City of LA Human Relations Commission, Maia designed and facilitated a series of intimate dinners with African American community members in South LA to discuss their thoughts on policing. She worked with the HRC to analyze these conversations and write a report of community-sourced recommendations that was later presented to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) leadership.
Launching an interfaith fellowship
Maia supported the launch of the first Abrahamic House fellowship, which brought four young adults of different faith backgrounds to live together in a house and plan monthly programs. She oversaw the fellowship, recruited and supervised the fellows, advised them on their programming, and held regular conversations between them.
Raising money for refugees
Maia writes grant proposals to support Miry’s List in its mission of providing neighbor-to-neighbor support for resettling refugee families and advocating to make Los Angeles the most “Welcoming City” in the United States.
Training restorative justice volunteers in cultural competency
Maia led a series of intergroup relations workshops for volunteers in the City of Los Angeles’ restorative justice programs. These workshops empowered volunteers with the context, vocabulary, and skillset to productively and responsibly navigate intergroup conflict, power dynamics, and difference, ultimately creating a more inclusive and culturally competent restorative justice process for Angelenos.
Hold Listening sessions about homelessness
Maia, Shaphan, and Daniel worked with a Los Angeles City Council District to explore ways that bridge building strategies could improve the street engagement process for the homeless population in Los Angeles. They held 11 listening sessions with an array of stakeholders to inform the design of this project.
Facilitate difficult conversations across political divides
Maia works with Resetting the Table to facilitate conversations across divides on a range of topics, including the American Red-Blue divides, and runs workshops to build the skills for navigating these charged conversations.
Past Clients
Who We’ve Worked With
Clients
What Our Clients Say
“Maia Ferdman is a phenomenal facilitator, cultivating community, active conversation, and genuine enthusiasm within and between diverse business, government, and community groups that are often at odds with one another. Maia’s mastery of people, language, and strategic planning is immediately apparent, and I have watched many high-level officials stop, listen, and defer to her wisdom and good judgement. She has her finger on the pulse of the future and I am continually enlightened by her effective, thoughtful, and forward-thinking leadership.”
Maia is an engine of any project she is a part of. With Maia, I always feel secure that the results will be perfect. She got to the point of the problem at hand, and beyond fixing it from all sides, she also gave specific and actionable recommendations for how to avoid problems in the future. With her amazing writing skills, we were able to secure more than $100,000 in less than a year. Her strategic thinking is a great tool. She helped me to develop communication and media tools, that helped my organization to be mentioned in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and many more. We look forward to collaborating with Maia on future projects.
“Maia is the BEST! She spent time actively listening to our needs, learning our goals, and studying our project to craft the perfect curriculum and training that exceeded our expectations. Her delivery and presentation style are very personable, interactive, and effective which makes learning fun and the concepts memorable. Our audience unanimously expressed raving reviews of Maia. We enjoyed Maia and her teachings so much that we have continued to request her services a total of seven times and we look forward to future collaborations.”
Get In Touch
maia@intergroupbridges.com