“Shared understanding and looking for practical ways forward.”

With that phrase in mind, a new venture in Cornwall – the Cornwall Collaboratory – is about to be launched. What is it? Who is involved? Why? Where?

What is the Cornwall Collaboratory? Simply put, it will be a space where free workshops with community leaders will be held to help resolve complex local issues. The workshops are expected to begin in early 2027, and any Cornwall resident, or an organization on its own behalf can participate.

“Our mission is to resolve complex issues through community collaboration,” founder Jason Burnham explains. “Today’s challenges call for a shared understanding and practical ways forward. The Cornwall Collaboratory will provide a public service through topic-specific collaborative workshops where participants work through issues and develop new solutions together. Each workshop will work to understand people’s needs, establish shared goals, explore root causes and connections, weigh trade-offs, and develop actionable recommendations.”

And whose idea is this?

That credit goes to Burnham, who grew up in the village and now lives in the town. He’s the proprietor of Culture Design, a firm which helps organizations achieve their goals through guided facilitation. He’s worked in that field for 25 years and has personal experience with building and selling companies. Burnham holds no office, is no longer on any committees, and has no party affiliation, but in the recent past he’s served on the Cornwall Economic Development Advisory, helped run the Chamber of Commerce’s strategic planning workshops, facilitated policy workshops for the Cornwall Central School District and, most recently, served on the Town’s Comprehensive Plan committee. He’s very familiar with local boards, organizations and individuals.

Second is Elizabeth Bruschi, owner of Storm King Theater. She’s a dedicated community volunteer, who is the creative face behind events for the Cornwall-on-Hudson Special Events Committee and other groups. She was instrumental in reviving the Ice House in Riverlight Park. Her ownership of the theatre, though, is key in this venture. The driving force behind getting the theater up and running again, she’s a known problem solver in the Cornwall area. The workshops themselves will be hosted by Bruschi at the Storm King Theater in Cornwall-on-Hudson.

It should be noted that neither Burnham nor Bruschi will make any money off this new venture. It’s a community service – a rallying cry for the ‘look what we can do together’ nature of Cornwall.

Burnham expects Cornwall Collaboratory to run as many collabs as they can manage, consistently using Wednesday evenings, from 6-8 p.m. That could be altered, he says, if needed, but two hours was picked “because two focused hours on a weeknight is something a working person can actually give”.

There will be four steps in the process. First identifying an issue, why it matters, desired workshop outcomes, and suggested stakeholders. Next, prioritizing topics within the issue, followed by recruiting qualified workshop participants. Then, exploring the issue through collaborative learning and developing potential solutions together. Finally, each collab will publicly present and publish synthesized workshop results and proposed action plan.

Burnham’s role? Professional facilitation – “to make sure everyone stays focused”.

He points out that workshops will be nonpartisan, evidence-informed, and not affiliated with any government organization. Public policy and political issues are welcome, but campaigning, party promotion, and personal attacks are not. Participants agree to listen respectfully, question assumptions, make room for differing views, and work toward the agreed outcomes.

Burnham calls it “blazing a path forward together.”

So, what should Cornwall work on together? That’s still to be decided, but whatever it is, it will be community-driven. While workshops won’t start until the new year, those who have an idea now can nominate an issue or sponsor a topic at: CornwallCollab.com; there are ‘Start a Collab’ buttons throughout.