The photo “Shatter + Forge” team from left to right: Richard Mullen, Michael, Tiffany Reese, Matthew, Marcela Diaz, and Mulki Mohamed.
By Janine Worthington
Edmonds, WA – The Vida Agency (TVA), trailblazers in social impact marketing, announced today the launch of Shatter + Forge™, a groundbreaking model for community engagement. Shatter + Forge is a new and better way for companies, government agencies, and community organizations to gather feedback from diverse communities by connecting their voices to the projects and policies directly affecting them.
Shatter + Forge weaves trust, respect, flexibility, and equitable compensation into every community interaction, with three levels of participation:
Community Contributors
Shatter + Forge maintains a diverse and growing roster of individual Community Contributors willing to participate in surveys, focus groups, and interviews for pay. Contributors learn about projects and initiatives that affect their communities, and companies benefit from deeper and more meaningful feedback.
Community Networkers
Shatter + Forge Community Networkers build relationships between organizations. These individual leaders and community-based organizations participate in a TVA project for up to twelve months. As with any consultant, TVA provides Networkers with outreach support and pays them directly for their expertise, not via stipends or gift cards. This structured approach maintains respectful boundaries around access to community members and prevents burnout.
Equity Advisory Board
The Shatter + Forge Equity Advisory Board holds TVA accountable for its social justice approach and practices. They identify issues in the community, help solve problems, and leverage their networks to ensure TVA consistently builds and sustains strong community relationships. This two-way street also gives board members access to programs and information that can benefit their communities.
“Following the 2020 reckoning on racial injustice and inequality, many companies solicited input from marginalized communities in burdensome ways,” shared Amalia Martino, TVA Founder and President. “We created Shatter + Forge to foster mutually beneficial interactions among public agencies, private companies, and the diverse communities they serve,” added Martino. “Shatter + Forge is a platform built for the community, by the community. Our goal is to amplify the voices of the underserved while educating our clients on the value of equitable compensation.”
“Working as a Shatter + Forge Community Networker has been so refreshing,” shares Tiffany Reese, Shatter + Forge Community Networker. “This model is such a break from the norm and makes me feel like my efforts are truly valued. I feel like my voice is heard and TVA’s clients are truly committed to reaching deep in the community to ensure resources are getting to those who are so often left behind.”
To learn more about becoming a Shatter + Forge community member, or to leverage Shatter + Forge community insights for your project, please visit Shatter + Forge.
Janine Worthington is the Director of Media Relations at the Vida Agency. TVA is a woman-and-minority-owned social impact marketing agency specializing in equity-driven communications, community engagement, and creative campaigns. To learn more, please visit https://thevidaagency.com/.
