Sarah Halstead Email & Phone Number

Katalyst Development Strategies is a communication arts consultancy with a penchant for workforce, community and economic development. We bring big vision, imagination, and determination to projects.We help businesses, communities, agencies, and organizations identify, develop, and promote great ideas and resources for growth.

West Virginia, San Diego, Ca

Katalyst is communications firm specializing in economic, community and workforce development. We1. Train local community leaders in innovation economy principles through conferences, workshops and community gatherings, and encourage communities to incorporate these principles in community growth plans. 2. Develop, launch and support commercial and social entrepreneurship projects, businesses, and initiatives. 3. Recruit creatives who want to build interesting lives and careers that matter in a place brimming with raw opportunity.

Statewide

Create West Virginia is an irrepressible grassroots movement. It's an innovation-economy, love-this-place kind of organization. For more nearly a decade, Create West Virginia volunteers have creatively united people from around the world and in this state, in thought and action. We engage the kind of people West Virginians want as their neighbors, their peers, their kids' teachers. We think a better place is something that everyone can relate to, and champion, and do better business in. And what do we mean by better? We focus on improving awareness, understanding and adoption of best practices in technology, entrepreneurship, education, diversity and place making.Our vision: A West Virginia that is creative, confident, diverse, technologically advanced, able to compete, collaborate,lead, and thrive among the most innovative, dynamic, prosperous, communities in the world.

WV GreenWorks is a non-profit organization that provides information on sustainable economic/community development consulting services to the general public, industry professionals, municipal leaders. We are advocates of sustainable resource management and understanding emerging trends and opportunities in energy efficiency, high performance building, land use and planning, water/wastewater management, sustainable forest management, air quality, sustainable agriculture, and eco-tourism. We believe that there's more prosperity for more people if we are working toward sustainability.

West Virginia

I focused my program and service development in two areas: sustainable building and community development and creative/innovation economic development. I brought programs, people and resources to together focused on growing the creative economy. I continue to develop programs for energy efficiency, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, healthy schools, Energy Star building, with special emphasis on HVAC, high performance building certification, and deconstruction. Much of my time has been dedicated to creating a viable co-working model for the WVSU Economic Development Center, along with launching a digital media business accelerator/incubator, and "makerspace." Before my employment as WVSU's CED Extension specialist, I was the lead consultant from Create WV who helped design the current iteration of the Economic Development Center (EDC) as a new economy business incubator and co-working facility. The vision for the WVSU EDC is for it to be top of mind and nationally recognized for regional digital, creative and innovation economy education and workforce programming, creative business acceleration and incubation, and as an ambassador for WVSU Extension Service, WVSU degree programs, and multidisciplinary program innovation.I support the growth of digital, creative and innovation economy workers, businesses, and communities by creating and facilitating creative economy and innovation-centered education and workforce development programs, social capital building events, and equally creative program delivery models, and by initiating and participating in collaborative community-building programs.

On behalf of California Community Colleges' Economic and Workforce Development Program and the San Diego Community College District, Sarah partnered with clients to strategically align organizational goals with business processes and human resources. Her expertise includes teaming with consultants to assess efficiency in business processes related to organizational and technical infrastructure, and business systems integration. She was part of the team that recommended solutions through training and organizational consulting to public agencies and businesses. Additionally, she managed ETi’s information technology training and small business support services.

Master’S Degree, Educational Leadership And Administration, General, 4.0

Bs Elementary Education, Early Childhood