How We Approach Our Work

We elevate strategic planning, research, and evaluation to a transformative act by centering community self-determination, imagination, and cultural responsiveness. 

We’re here to fix systems, not people.

How We Move in Our Work

We prioritize shared values.

We work with organizations or individuals that have an explicit value of transformative change.  These include grassroots movements, non-profits, government entities, researchers, coalitions, or funders.

Our work is slower-paced and thoughtful.

We actively reject urgency culture to make sure that we are engaging in ongoing self-reflection, developing deep and authentic relationships with our partners, and carefully learning about the context of the community you are serving.

We are partners in this work.

We provide you with the data, tools, and recommendations to transform your organization while you carry out the necessary individual and collective steps of the change process. This transformation is not something we can do for you, but we will be with you every step of the way.

We are truth-tellers.

We value honesty and integrity. We challenge you and ourselves to recognize the full potential and impact of our work, both the intended and unintended. We can’t make real change unless we face hard truths about ourselves and the systems in which we are embedded.

We center growth and reject perfection.

Perfectionism is an attribute of white-supremacy culture that puts the focus on mistakes and failures. No one is perfect or has all the answers. Instead, we prioritize a cycle of imagining, implementing, learning, and adapting. We are growing together.

We are ultimately accountable to the community.

We strive to center the voices of communities throughout all aspects of our work to ensure that those most affected by the issue are leading the creation of new policies and practices that ensure their well-being.

“The heart of justice is truth telling, seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be.”

-bell hooks

The Five Phases of our Partnership

Our process is designed to be as inclusive and transparent as possible. Although we customize our process to meet the unique needs and strengths of our clients, we typically engage in the following steps:

  • We have one ore more conversations to understand your vision, the community involved, the impact you with to achieve, and to determine whether both parties feel comfortable with pursuing this partnership.

  • A tailored scope of work is created, including our shared goals and expectations for our partnership, the expected services, and timeline for the work.

  • We begin the process of building our relationship. The extent to which we can deliver high-quality results largely depends on the strength of our relationships with our partners and the community they serve.

  • We work with you as we conduct one or more of our services.

  • Toward the end of our partnership, we convene to review whether we have achieved the shared goals of this work.