SISU Consulting

Nicole Huser

Community development practitioner: fund development, participatory planning, restorative justice

SISU Consulting is the independent practice of Nicole "Nikki" Huser, supporting cities, frontline communities, nonprofits, and grassroots coalitions at the intersection of institutions and the people they serve.

Sisu (Finnish): courage and resolve in the face of adversity, in service of collective possibility.

A full room of community members at an Urban River Learning Network session

Urban River Learning Network session, Phoenix

The Practice

I work where systems meet communities: translating between them, building trust, and moving resources toward community-defined priorities. My practice spans fund development and grant strategy, community engagement and participatory planning, restorative justice and circle keeping, and climate resilience as a justice framework.

Over 15 years across nonprofit, philanthropic, municipal, and Tribal sectors, I have raised more than $2 million for community-led work and managed a $2.5 million federal HUD grant portfolio. I am a 2024 Next City Vanguard Fellow, a board member of AZ Land, and currently completing an Executive Certificate in Leadership in Social Impact at Harvard Kennedy School.

Selected Work

Climate Resilience & City Systems

City of Phoenix, with Bloomberg Associates

Embedded in the City Manager's Office supporting a citywide climate resilience and community development portfolio, including the Shade PHX Plan and a community transformation site at the Rio Salado. Helped document the Sombra public art series.

Neighborhood Revitalization

HUD Choice Neighborhoods · five cities nationwide

Contributed to participatory planning across five cities, including the first Choice Neighborhoods award to a Tribal Nation.

Community-Led Planning & Repair

Jacksonville, FL

Contributed to the Durkeeville Revitalization Plan and advising the descendant-led Mt. Herman Cemetery restorative justice pilot.

Community Benefits & Environmental Justice

City of Akron, OH

Contributed to the city's first developer agreement and the Environmental Justice Vision Plan.

River Restoration & Stewardship

Salt River, Phoenix

Strategic consultant to Protectors of the Salt River, a grassroots movement for ecological restoration and Indigenous-led stewardship. Secured funding for the Urban River Learning Network, including a recent design talk.

Restorative Justice

Chicago to present day

Certified circle keeper with years of practice in public housing, schools, and youth-serving settings. Helped secure launch funding for Chicago's Restorative Justice Hub Network.

From the Field

Families gather beneath an artist-designed shade structure in a Phoenix park — Shade as cultural infrastructure: an artist-designed Sombra structure in community use.

Residents work over neighborhood maps at a community design workshop — Residents shape the plan directly, working over maps at a community design workshop.

Tree planting along the Salt River — Tree planting and clean-up along the Salt River with Protectors of the Salt River.

Featured Story

The Barrio That Bought Back Its School

Flowers & Bullets · Tucson, AZ · July 2026

A feature story and photographs from a July 2026 site visit to Flowers & Bullets, a barrio-rooted collective that purchased its neighborhood's shuttered elementary school and turned the campus into a working farm, early-childhood programming, and a national model for community land ownership. Read the story.

Recent Convenings

Design Talk: Urban River Learning Network

Phoenix, AZ

A community conversation on river restoration and design, part of the Urban River Learning Network.

Restorative Justice Circle at Mt. Herman

Jacksonville, FL · April 2026

A community circle in the descendant-led healing and memorialization process at Mt. Herman Cemetery.

I take on a limited number of engagements. If the work fits, let's talk.

Get in Touch Read the Journal

info@sisu-consulting.net · (312) 536-0574 · LinkedIn