Who we are
The Collage team works at the intersection of group process, participatory design, and democratic innovation — helping organizations think together more clearly, and act together more effectively.
Khari McClelland, Co-founder
Khari McClelland is a facilitator and strategist who works with organizations and communities navigating complex social and institutional change. His practice focuses on designing participatory experiences that build trust, deepen dialogue, and support collective action. Drawing on a background in education, storytelling, and community engagement, Khari helps groups move from polarization and fragmentation toward shared direction and meaningful outcomes, with a particular focus on civic processes and public sector transformation.
Jesi Carson, Co-founder
Jesi Carson is a design researcher and strategist specializing in participatory processes for public engagement and democratic innovation. She brings over a decade of experience working at the intersection of design, civic technology, and deliberative democracy, including leadership roles with Participedia, a global network studying democratic practices. Jesi designs and delivers engagement processes that move beyond consultation toward shared understanding and actionable outcomes, with a focus on making complex decision-making accessible, inclusive, and practical for communities and institutions.
200+
Convenings &
Sessions Facilitated
50+
Organizations Served
25+
Years of Combined Experience
What we bring
Our work sits at the intersection of facilitation, learning design, and democratic innovation. Across sectors and geographies, we bring a practice grounded in real-world application—supporting organizations, coalitions, and communities to navigate complexity, engage meaningfully, and move from conversation to action. What follows reflects the core capabilities we draw on to do this work well.
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We are practitioners, not presenters. Our facilitation work draws on arts-based and experiential methods to create conditions where groups can move beyond surface-level exchange — into the kind of honest, generative dialogue that changes how people think and work together. We have held this kind of space for strategic planning retreats, team culture processes, coalition convenings, and high-stakes multi-stakeholder engagements.
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We design learning processes that are structured enough to produce results and open enough to follow where the group needs to go. Our learning design work draws on interaction design, participatory research methods, and years of curriculum development for university programs, professional training, and international cohort initiatives. We think carefully about sequence, scaffolding, and what it takes for learning to transfer beyond the room.
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We are fluent in the emerging field of democratic innovation — citizens assemblies, participatory budgeting, design jams, public dialogue, deliberative engagement. We have contributed to this field as practitioners, researchers, and educators: facilitating processes, publishing work, and teaching methods at the university level. We know how to adapt these approaches to organizations and communities that don't have a university partner or a government mandate — just a real need to hear from the people they serve.
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Our combined practice spans philanthropy and foundations, nonprofit and civil society, climate and environment, housing and community land, Indigenous governance and organizing, labour, drug policy and harm reduction, higher education, local government, international development, and youth empowerment. We have worked in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and Australia.