Sycamore began in the fall of 1977 in the Twin Cities. The original three members of Sycamore were Gene Mainelli, O.P., Jack Taylor, O.P., and Mark Scannell, O.P., all priests of the Province of Saint Albert the Great. Initially they lived in Bloomington, Minnesota, along with two other Dominican friars: Bob and Vincent Champine, O.P.

The initial focus of Sycamore was to work with Catholic Churches in the area of renewal and they understood renewal to involve both organizational and spiritual dimensions. On the organizational level, they conducted workshops with parish staffs and parish councils, helped them to focus on their roles and discover how they could better fulfill their roles. On the spiritual side, they gave retreats to the Parishes. In some Parishes they did both, the organizational and the spiritual dimensions.

In the fall of 1978, Sycamore added a female staff member: Sister Elaine Gaston, O.P., an Adrian Dominican Sister – who had experiences in the organizational dimensions of Churches. Sycamore ceased being a Dominican ministry in 1984 and became Sycamore Consultants, which continued as a lay-led group working with Churches in the Twin Cities area.