Erin Blanding Email & Phone Number

Collaborator Team at The Group Forward Consulting Firm - Facilitation, Training, Consulting and Coaching projects. https://www.thegroupforward.com/

Executive team member for a global university and partner non-profit network working to provide equitable & sustainable access to higher education for community change practitioners in over 40 countries. As Vice President, Global Outreach, I led teams in University communications (including branding, social media & multi-channel marketing, external comms, internal comms process, website development, and strategy), development & fundraising (including strategy, process & tracking, M&E, multi-source funding channels & prospecting), new program/product innovations, and institutional strategic planning.

Toronto, Canada Area

Oversaw the creation, development & execution of content, training, and evaluation for WE Schools programming in over 18,000 schools in Canada, the US, and UK engaging over 4 million students. Led the school and youth programming teams in Digital Evolution and Transformation, bringing service-learning programming to every classroom through technology. Executive Producer for WE’s in-person and virtual programming and co-creator of the WE Global Classroom series.

Toronto And Arizona

Working with international facilitation and operations teams, staff members, participants in facilitation training programs, and community members to learn about social justice work, how to facilitate with social justice in mind, and create inclusive and equitable work spaces and communities for social change.

Toronto, Canada Area

Patagonia, Arizona

Directing all operations, staffing, training, curriculum building, program creation, partner liaising, and communications for Me to We Trips (both in Arizona and Mexico), Me to We Customized Leadership Training, Me to We Take Action Camps, Disney Friends for Change Camps, and Me to We Retreats/Private Rentals.

Toronto, Canada Area

Developing We Day Backstage/Wrangler team responsible for production (stage and television), full client/celebrity experience, speech development, and relevant operations/finance. Part of core team directing and creating systems for full We Day execution and eventual expansion/scaling.

Toronto, Canada Area

Trained facilitation staff of 25, created curriculum, and managed partnerships for the following programs:-Life in Action health & social change program for middle school students in partnership with the Atkins Foundation-Youth Philanthropy Initiative with the Toskan Foundation-Volunteer Now program with 10 Canadian school boards-3 motivational speaking tours & workshops-Global Leadership Seminars in Canada, US, Kuwait

North America

Part of two-person team on We Generation motivational speaking tour. Spoke to 55,000 youth across North America about the power that this current generation of youth had to make the most significant impact on global poverty in history. Hour-long keynote speeches were followed by a three hour-long workshop with select youth in the school around action planning and making an impact on issues relevant to them in their local or global community.

Co-led the 5 year strategic planning process for the University & Global Network: -Conducted 50+ interviews with global team of country partners, faculty, staff, board trustees and key stakeholders-Designed and co-facilitated 3 day strategic planning process with Trustees & Global stakeholders -Wrote 80 page report - using research based on interviews, archival reports, and input from the 3 day process - of insights and recommendations for strategic plan and next stage growth for sustainability

Patagonia, Arizona

Patagonia, Arizona

Co-creation and ongoing development of the Windsong Peace and Leadership Center, a ranch and training center located on the US/Mexico border using permaculture and other design principles to guide social-justice programming and community change with a focus on immigration & racial justice, accessibility, environmental regeneration, and youth empowerment. Through cross-border partnership with dozens of community groups and networks, over 4,000 youth and educators from local communities and around the world had access to service learning, leadership, & social justice programming rooted in a place-based and popular education pedagogy, led by expertise of community members with lived experiences of the complex border issues being studied.

Patagonia, Arizona

The mission of the Borderlands Restoration Leadership Institute is to foster ecological and cultural place-based learning and leadership which cultivates a restoration economy in the US-Mexico borderlands, a complex region historically economically reliant on extractive industries. As a world-class restoration training institute, we provide project and program offerings, first-rate experiential education, research facilities, work experience opportunities and project management training in the field of ecological, cultural, and economic restoration.

We partner to grow a restorative economy by rebuilding healthy ecosystems, restoring habitat for plants and wildlife, and reconnecting our border communities to the land through shared learning.

Creation and integration breakdown of market research proposal for a college-based certificate program focused on community development and regenerative systems theory in local and global locales.

San Francisco Bay Area

Interim Director of Operations for staff of 15 for Free The Children California. Oversaw educational programming and partnerships, human resources, business development and fundraising, and execution of San Jose We Day event.

Led Expert Team to create strategy and platform around global membership and fundraising for a new global university. The University of the World removes typical barriers to higher ed (ie: tuition, geographical access), focuses on educating skills/topics relevant for community change.

Master Of Arts (Ma), Community Development And Conservation

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), Honors, Major, International Relations; Minor, Anthropology

Activities and Societies: Graduate Class Valedictorian; Gil Latter Memorial Award Winner