The Land Connection
Facilitating Alignment Across an Illinois Farmland Access Coalition
Summary: Foresight facilitated a day-long summit for the Illinois Farmland Access Hub, helping a network of farmer-support organizations build alignment, make sense of scattered information, and leave with tangible next steps.
Services: Coalition facilitation, convening design, network strategy.
The Challenge
The Illinois Farmland Access Hub, a statewide network of farmer-support nonprofits launched through a USDA grant, had generated real momentum and information early on, but hadn't taken off as a functioning coalition. When the project's original lead left the role, The Land Connection, as manager of the Hub, inherited a network facing many of the classic pitfalls of collaborative work: unclear priorities, subcommittees that weren't gaining traction, dipping engagement, and no shared understanding of how members' individual efforts fit together. As funding for the coalition came to an end, The Land Connection brought in Foresight Collective as a thought partner to design and facilitate a day-long summit with the goal of building a foundation for “Phase 2” of the Hub
Our Approach
Our team brought outside perspective, coalition-building experience, and facilitation know-how to a network that had generated substantial information but lacked a clear path for using it. Our work included:
Coaching The Land Connection staff through the process of stepping back and recognizing the underlying patterns behind the coalition's struggles.
Designing a day-long convening designed to facilitate relationship building, aligning perspectives, and identifying collective action items, with an agenda that included a deliberate mix of engagement modalities (e.g., reflection, small and large group discussion, generative exercises, and report-outs) to keep energy and attention moving throughout the day.
Supporting The Land Connection staff with synthesizing ideas, data, and insights that had been generated by the coalition over months of previous conversations, including an overview of 25 systemic land access challenges, into a sensemaking exercise that helped participants see gaps, opportunities, and their own place within the larger system.
The Outcome
In a post-convening debrief, our client, who had previously expressed concern about low engagement, reflected in dipping meeting attendance and unfinished subcommittee assignments, reported a marked shift. They shared that feedback from participants was positive, relationships among coalition members felt noticeably stronger, and the group left with tangible ideas for action items, which felt like real forward progress.
The Result
The convening generated momentum, which the coalition is now building on. It also helped The Land Connection get clearer on what it can realistically offer the network going forward, targeting near-term opportunities the group can act on while staying mindful of its own capacity.