James Kent Associates (JKA)

Organization Description

James Kent Associates uses a Culture-Based Management approach with corporate, government and community clients, both within the U.S. and abroad. JKA has developed and refined a methodology over the years that allow a community and the proponent of an action to benefit mutually from proposed change. In more than 200 communities where they have worked with these techniques, they have fostered the mobilization and empowerment of people in a manner that enhances both community and institutional capacity. In their projects, JKA have been able to prevent, manage, and/or reconcile disputes in a manner that has enhanced the quality of the project and of the community.

JKA projects have included Environmental Assessments (EA), Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), public participation processes, and strategy implementation plans for proposed ski areas, resorts, airports, mines, housing projects, industrial parks, golf courses, power generating facilities, military installations, and river/watershed restoration and recovery, among others.

Some of the group's services include:

•Cultural, social and economic assessments

•Citizen mobilization and empowerment programs

•Management training and consultation in the area of Social Ecology and Public Policy, which results in the alignment of community and institutional interests in a way that enhances both, leading to public policy that mobilizes citizen energy and creativity

•Project consultation in dealing with the social, cultural, and political contexts of development efforts

•Organizational development and re-structuring

•Project and Organizational Evaluation