Services

We partner with consultants and trainers to increase their capacity, strengthen the emotional acuity and cultural sensitivity of their offerings, and free them up to build their practices. We also work directly with mission-driven organizations to fill capacity needs.

Trainings and workshops

Mel is a thoughtful, sensitive facilitator of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and multiculturalism workshops. These could be 1-2 day long retreats, a series of shorter workshops, or one-time trainings on specific topics like unconscious bias, microaggressions, or dimensions of identity.

Strategic planning and organizational change

We facilitate discernment through the lenses of justice, equity, diversity, and genuine inclusion. Our tools include, but are not limited to, gathering and synthesizing stakeholder input, leading internal steering teams, designing and facilitating day-long retreats or trainings, and documenting decisions or paths forward. Projects have multi-month and multi-year scopes.

Operational support capacity

We apply over twelve years of experience building non-profits and coalitions, plus interpersonal perceptiveness and meaning-making skills developed through chaplaincy, to board development, stakeholder outreach, grant writing, and other custom projects crafted with clients. We’re a great thought partner and sounding board. Think we might be a fit? Let’s talk!

sample projects

diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) organizational strategy

Mel led a diverse committee of staff members to design a two-year DEI plan. She crafted a process including a peer survey, an all-staff survey, and an in-person workshop. The final recommendations became the touchpoint for monthly meetings to help the committee lay out tasks and track its accomplishments.

collaborative formation

Based on experience leading collectives to establish and maintain visions, goals, and operating structures, Mel built foundations for the Just Energy Circle, a multi-cultural, equity-focused collaborative in Atlanta. She co-wrote the operational guidance document outlining shared values, decision-making processes, and member responsibilities; and periodically helped update it as the Circle grew.

anti-racism workshop series

Mel facilitated an Adult Religious Education workshop on Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility for about 40 congregants over three Sundays. She adapted a curriculum to one-hour classes, including setting tone for “courageous space” through ground rules and opening meditation; selecting readings and short video clips; designing pair and small-group exercises to process content and apply it personally; and facilitating challenging yet approachable large-group discussions.

Stakeholder engagement

Mel facilitated a congregational life survey analyzing progress towards the congregation’s stated ends, which got responses from 400 out of roughly 700 congregants. She led a volunteer team to categorize hundreds of qualitative remarks, then incorporated quantitative and qualitative responses into a report that informed leaders about program areas of highest concern to congregants, strengths and weaknesses, differences in satisfaction between demographic groups, and impacts on generosity.