Sage Step Consulting specializes in community engagement, facilitation, and strategic planning. Since our founding in 2018, we’ve partnered with small businesses, nonprofits, funders, local governments, and regional coalitions to navigate complexity, align around shared purpose, and create lasting, community-centered change. We believe the most powerful solutions emerge from within local communities.
Founded by Summer Hess to serve Central and Eastern Washington, Sage Step has grown in response to increasing demand for skilled facilitation and inclusive planning. Our approach blends creative thinking, active listening, and practical tools to help organizations and communities build trust, uncover shared priorities, and take action together.
Whether you're launching a new initiative, facing a critical decision, or shaping long-term strategy, Sage Step Consulting offers expert guidance to help you move forward with clarity, purpose, and community at the center.
Since launching Sage Step in 2018, Summer has helped clients across Central and Eastern Washington navigate complexity and create community-centered change. Her consulting draws from two decades of experience in project management, facilitation, communications, and higher education.
Summer has professional certificates in public participation from the International Association of Public Participation an M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Eastern Washington University, where she also taught writing classes and worked as a writing consultant. A former Fulbright Scholar in Chile, she brings a global perspective and a commitment to public service to every engagement.
Summer’s full resume is available here.
Grecia is based in Quincy and bilingual in Spanish and English. She brings organization, heart, and intention to everything she touches. With a background at the local library, she’s known for her friendly presence, clear communication, and ability to keep everyone informed and connected. Passionate about doing things thoughtfully and well, she helps create a smooth, welcoming flow for our community through careful planning and consistent communication. Grecia is experienced in creating welcoming, inclusive environments and supporting diverse populations. She is passionate about connecting people with resources, fostering community relationships, and promoting a positive, approachable atmosphere.
Gabriel (Gabe) Kiritz is a bilingual (English/Spanish) strategic planning consultant and facilitator with more than a decade of experience supporting conservation and purpose-driven organizations at local, state, and international levels. As a Senior Associate with Environmental Incentives, he led adaptive management processes and strategic planning for nonprofits and public agencies, in English and Spanish.
We faciltate meetings, workshops, planning sessions, listening sessions, public enagement events, and summits.
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We design public engagement strategies that help communities build trust and make informed, people-centered decisions.
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We host community-centered strategic planning processes for public agencies, nonprofits, and coalitions.
Learn MoreCollaborating with Summer Hess on NCW Libraries' 3-year strategic direction was an inspiring experience. Leveraging our pre-pandemic long-range strategic plan as a foundation, Summer’s deep understanding of North Central Washington guided us in transforming these initial initiatives into a set of new, actionable strategic directions. Her methodical approach to strategic planning, embracing diverse perspectives and creating an inclusive environment, facilitated meaningful contributions from our board of directors, executive leadership, and marketing team. Summer excels in transforming organizational goals into strategic initiatives that enhance our vision and objectives. Her ability to identify practical strategies not only increased our brand's value and visibility but also cemented her role as an integral part of our team. Working with Summer—whose expertise and insight are unparalleled—has been a genuine pleasure.
Summer is a community leader and convener whose dedication to excellence speaks to her ability to provide invaluable guidance and support for any project she undertakes. I recently had the privilege of collaborating with Summer on a project that demanded a sharp focus on community engagement and meticulous project management. Throughout our work together, she demonstrated not only an impressive talent for conducting research critical to supporting our planning process but also a keen ability to navigate the complexities inherent in managing such projects. Notably, Summer seamlessly integrated into our team dynamic, which helped propel us toward success with remarkable efficiency. With Summer’s support, I can state with confidence that any strategic planning project stands to benefit from her exceptional leadership.
Summer provided change management support for our organization when we had the opportunity to launch a state-wide project and needed to scale quickly. She helped us articulate a new strategy and guided us through processes that set us up for long-term success. She also helped us create our own consulting framework and approach to stakeholder engagement. Her knowledge and ability around collective impact work is second to none!
Summer is excellent at facilitating meetings and at designing an inclusive approach so that everyone feels valued and part of the process. Summer has been coordinating two working groups that are leading large-scale initiatives in the Our Valley Our Future Action Plan. Over a few short months, she has helped build trust and a shared understanding among group members, kept work moving between meetings, and effectively communicated end goals.
Summer is a true delight. She worked with the Community Building for 8 years on everything from website content and design, event planning, project management, and editing and writing a book. During that time we depended on her many gifts including leadership, persistent focus, creativity, relationship building, and her beautiful writing.
Working with Summer has been an absolute pleasure. We partnered with Summer on a project with NCW Tech Alliance to design and launch a website that hosts national community skilling campaigns. Summer’s organizational skills and attention to detail are spot-on! She has a deep understanding of how to move projects forward creatively and logistically, plus she’s an incredible thought partner in every decision. But on top of that, I really want to say that as someone who’s worked with many consultants and producers, I am struck by how much she cares about the process and final product, and how much respect and love she has for everyone she works with! We’d love to continue partnering with Summer.
One-Block Revolution honors the chorus of diverse changemakers who show up every day to build their community. Part counterculture manifesto and framework for participatory placemaking, part handbook for nonprofits and social enterprises, this anthology tells one of Spokane’s most essential stories, while providing inspiration and practical guidance for organizations across the world.
Sage Step did lead not all the projects alone! We work diligently alongside our clients and other amazing organizations to deliver quality results. Some of our partners include:
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