“The task of leadership is to be intentional about the way we group people and the questions that we engage them in.” - Peter Block
Community engagement should advance your goals, not just check a box. When community voices are overlooked, decisions become out of touch and outcomes miss the mark. Superficial approaches don't resonate, and rigid methods stifle participation. Both limit critical perspectives, jeopardize decision quality, and compromise outcomes.
Here are a few ways missteps put your efforts at risk of failure:
Weakens stakeholder confidence and engagement in initiatives.
Undermines organizational credibility and influence.
Wastes valuable time, energy, and resources on efforts that fail to gain support or deliver results.
Why Engagement Matters
Community engagement entails more than holding a meeting, giving a presentation, or broad promotion. Its impact comes from purposeful interactions that deliver actionable insights and drive decisions. High-quality, effective community engagement applies a specialized skillset to engage groups deliberately and assess their perspectives for complex decision-making processes. It strengthens and validates planning, design, and evaluation efforts. The result is stronger outcomes backed by stakeholder and community voices.
New Reach specializes in engaging communities in decision-making processes to shape plans, programs, and policies. You'll gain valuable insights from various populations and demographics that reflect stakeholders' opinions, needs, challenges, motivations, and priorities.
With New Reach's strategic guidance and support, your organization can:
Better plan for public engagement.
Build community participation and trust.
Deliver more effective community programs and services.
Validate decisions made.
Elevate Your Engagement
Working with New Reach means you gain specialized expertise and a proven track record to drive your outreach and engagement outcomes. New Reach provides solutions grounded in hands-on experience and current best practices in public engagement, ensuring you have the right expertise to achieve your organizational goals.
Below are some examples of public affairs expertise that New Reach offers to support informed decision-making in shaping plans, programs, and policies.
Stakeholder Outreach and Community Engagement
Public Awareness and Issue Advocacy
Messaging and Communications
Community Needs Assessment
Social Impact Coaching
Social Innovation Facilitation
Your Trusted Engagement Partner
About New Reach
New Reach Community Consulting is a purpose-driven public affairs consulting business based in Columbus, Ohio. Its mission is to help organizations engage communities, strengthen decisions, and deliver transformative outcomes. Partnering with New Reach builds credibility and trust in meaningful solutions focused on communities.
It's Ohio's first public affairs business to receive B Corp certification. The international nonprofit B Lab grants this designation for meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. This high standard confirms that New Reach is among the select group of businesses that effectively demonstrate their commitment to making a meaningful impact on stakeholders and communities.
Business Certifications
National Diversity Veteran Small Business (NDVSB)
State of Ohio Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
City of Columbus Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
Columbus City Schools Local Economically Disadvantaged Enterprise (LEDE)
Meet Your Expert
Coby C. Williams is the Founder and Principal of New Reach Community Consulting. He has worked extensively in Ohio communities and collaborated with organizations across the United States to advance initiatives at the local, state, and national levels. Coby is an experienced and credentialed strategist and practitioner with nearly twenty years in community engagement, group facilitation, issue advocacy strategy, and digital outreach planning. His thought leadership is frequently sought in national discussions on community engagement.
Coby was selected to participate in the Direct Action Research and Training (DART) Center Institute for grassroots community organizing. He also completed the Advanced Public Engagement for Local Government program from Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University. Coby served on the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) USA's national Board of Directors and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Governance Committees. He also served on the Steering Committee for the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers (NNCG).
Coby earned an Associate of Applied Business in Computer Information Systems from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management from Franklin University. He also possesses professional training in advanced problem-solving and stakeholder engagement frameworks, including appreciative inquiry, design thinking, human-centered design, and intercultural group dynamics.
Agile Project Management
Digital Strategies Intensive