Transform your work into a force for collective care and justice with organizational development, policy strategy, political organizing, and education that inspires lasting change.
Organizational
Development
From hiring searches to JEDI implementation, we are here to support you through transforming your organizational culture.
More about organizational developmentPolitical
Organizing
From fundraising to campaign strategy and design, we are here to help you envision yourself at all the tables for the generations to come.
More about Political organizing
Policy and Advocacy
Development
From advocacy training to community needs assessment, we are committed to engaging others in advocacy development.
More about Policy and advocacy development
Education
and Speaking
From equity workshops to youth curriculum development, we do this work through an anti-racist, anti-oppression, and transformative justice lens.
More about Eucation and Speaking“If you can make it in the room but your morals and beliefs cannot, you have not gained power, power has gained you.” - Nina Turner
“If you can make it in the room but your morals and beliefs cannot, you have not gained power, power has gained you.” - Nina Turner
Organizational DevelopmentOur Approach
We believe in transparent diagnosing of issues and identifying growth areas as a fundamental process of healing and maintaining an organization’s integrity and collective work, especially and even more so, in times that calls for a cultural shift and reorganization that meets the needs and visions of everyone on your team. Organizations are most effective in achieving their mission to create equitable and diverse workplaces when they carve out pathways and pipelines for board, staff, and leadership development to stimulate growth and build healthy relationships. This vision includes being explicit about healthy communication skills and healthy management relationships between employees and employers, honoring a work balance, sense of community and mentorship opportunities at all levels of the organization.
Our Goal
We are here to support you through transforming your organizational culture through co-creating practices, learning spaces that celebrate intergenerational diversity and your organization’s ecosystems and structures rather than the often default tension and alienation that is created when change occurs. Our goal is to institute holistics systems, share tools and knowledge that will sustain your organization’s infrastructure and move your mission forward for the decades to come.
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Hiring Searches
Restructuring Processes
Volunteer Development & Support
Retreats
Strategic Planning & Visioning
Management
Leadership Development
Leadership Coaching
Board Development
Data Strategy
Project Management
Multi-Program Monitoring and Evaluation Tools
Professional Development
Interpersonal Relationships
Justice Equity Diversity & Inclusion Implementation
Political OrganizingOur Approach
We believe in power building and the mass mobilization of our communities to create political change. In doing this work, we carry our lineages of the global third-world fight for liberation and our understanding of the US governmental structure while honoring our movement ancestors and elders who fought for the right to vote during the Freedom Summer of 1964 in Mississippi, and Black feminists who remind us “Our Existence is Political” and the importance of harm reduction as a principle and strategy needed on our route towards our collective liberation. We hold that electoral politics will not free us. We do believe in supporting candidates, organizing and campaigns that will shift power to the people and build our collective capacity for marginalized communities to live and thrive with sustainability, dignity, and agency.
Our Goal
We understand why we need folks in office. As folks whose communities and values are not represented in our government, there is no size fits all formula to winning but we know the work and digging deep of ourselves it takes to get there. We know too well the internal obstacles, the doubt that can cloud us, the questioning of oneself, the external gaslighting and expected shrinking of ourselves as we enter spaces that were never meant for us. We are here to help you envision yourself and for those like us to envision ourselves at all the tables for the generations to come. We provide holistic consulting to radical visionary political candidates to ensure that as you run, you run as you because you are who we need.
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1 on 1 Candidate Initial Consulting: What Would It Take to Win? Am I Ready? Where do I begin?
Candidate Team Consulting: Storytelling and Content Creation, Fundraising and Financing, Community Engagement Strategies and GOTV Logistics
Communication Design:
Digital Design: Branding & Identity Exploration, Website Design, Newsletter Design, Social Media Graphic Templates
Print Design: Palm Cards, Mailers, Lawn Signs, Newspaper Ads
Get in touch to discuss our sliding scale offer for 2SQTLGBTIA+ BIPOC candidates who come from low-income backgrounds and are rooted in their home communities.
Policy & advocacy DevelopmentOur Approach
Policy and advocacy can be fun, engaging, creative, and center the experiences of the people most impacted. We are committed to shifting the power dynamics of policy development, shifting power to the community who are the experts of their lives and should lead. Changing and shifting policy at any level can be done by anyone- community members, activists, stakeholders and those most affected- but it requires a basic understanding of the political structures and those in these systems. And this is where the current political system fails us, it makes it as though our needs and vision for our community are far fetched dreams and unobtainable. It can make us feel small and incapable of making change because we don’t have the finances, network, or tools to navigate the red tape.
Our Goal
We want to demystify the notion that only some people can shape policy. We want to support those who are excited, passionate and inspired to create change and engage others in advocacy and development. Whether you are mobilizing your community, staff, or a particular constituency, we will provide the tools and a blueprint to design your policy advocacy campaign, or help you think through designing legislation.
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Advocacy Training for your selected audience (i.e. Board, Staff, Partners, Community, etc)
Organizing 1:1s with elected officials
Developing your Personal Story
Understanding how legislation is developed
Coalition Building
Organize stakeholders to affect policy
Shifting power dynamics ethically and equitably
Equitable Compensation for Community Engagement
Securing state or congressional earmark
Community Needs Assessments
Community Engagement
Issue-based Organizing
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Comprehensive Health Education Curriculum Review and toolkit for the Health Equity Partnership (CHNA9)
2017 Community Health Improvement Plan - Racism and Discrimination Subcommittee
2018 City of Worcester Youth Mental Health Needs Assessment
Developed the Temporary Supported Communities: Strategies for Unsheltered People brief published by the National Coalition for the Homeless Council
Designed the organizing campaign for the adoption of Inclusionary Zoning and Zero-Fare Worcester Regional Transit Authority
Advocacy on adopting comprehensive sex ed curriculum for Worcester Public Schools
Adoption of Whitman-Hanson Regional School District LGBTQ+ Safe Schools Policy
Advocacy on creation of 24/7 shelters during COVID-19 Pandemic
Advocacy on free testing during COVID-19 Pandemic
Education & SpeakingOur Approach
Our work is rooted in a deliberate holistic investment in each other’s growth and our collective knowledge. Our network of consultants pride ourselves in our decades of being cultural workers, facilitators and educators on the frontlines of educational social justice with experience working in schools districts, nonprofits and supporting communities on building out programs, curriculums, trainings and conferences with an anti-racist, anti-oppression, and transformative justice lens.
Our Goal
We believe in meeting people where they are at and tailoring content and methodology of facilitation to the needs and goals of our partners. Please see our list of previous work to get an understanding of what we can offer and tailor for you.
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Equity Framework - Board Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County
Language Justice: Multilingual Learners Research Process and Practice
Youth worker and Adult Supporter of Grassroots Organizing
Social Emotional Learning for Youth Workers and Educators
Understanding My Capacity for Youth Workers and Educators
Intersectionality, Bias and Isms for Youth Workers and Educators
Facilitations Techniques for Youth Workers and Educators
Gender Responsiveness in Youth Development
Management & Leadership: De-escalation practices & conflict resolution for Youth Workers and and Educators
Gender Affirming Care for Edward M. Kennedy Staff
LGBTQIA2S and Healthcare 101 for Nursing Students at QCC
Affirmation Cards for Outstanding Life (OSL) LGBTQ elders
Memory is An Act of Love: Writing your Queer Stories for Outstanding Life (OSL) LGBTQ elders
Developing your Personal Story for Organizers
Art as Resistance
Introduction to Mindfulness
Leadership and Management in Youth Work for Framingham Public Schools
Health Equity Workshops for City of Worcester’s Health & Human Services Department
Imposter Syndrome for University of Miami
Organizing 101 for Worcester Youth Movement
Power Analysis for Clark University’s Youth Workers Training Institute
Power as Currency for Clark University’s Youth Workers Training Institute
Cultural Inclusivity for Educators
Trauma of Inequity and Health Disparities, Worcester ACTs
Education, Equity and Inclusion Series: Navigating School Districts
Adverse Childhood and Community Experiences, Deep Center
Foundational Learning Series on Racial Equity, Trauma & Resiliency
Telling our Stories: Data & Assessment for Grassroots Organizations
Boys & Young Men Voices: Creating Spaces of Resistance & Resilience
Self-regulation, effective communication and mindfulness series: Write it out - Dear Me letter & Tell your story; Act it out - Fair fighting, listening & sharing; Create it - Craft 3 art-based mindfulness interventions that work for you
JEDI Series for MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Community Engagement Approach: Centering BIPOC Communities for MA Department of Public Health, Division of Sexual and Domestic Violence Prevention and Services.
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Southeast Asian Social Justice Leadership, Black and Asian Solidarity: Healing Justice
Audre Lorde Transformative Art School Summer 2023
City of Worcester’s Recreation Worcester Afterschool and Summer Curriculum
Latino Education Institute’s Sex Ed Programming, Latinas Achievers In Search of Success, and Photovoice & Service Learning for English Language Learners
Language Justice Curriculum (Spanish)
YWCA’S Young Women and Leadership Program
Main South Youth Corps
Raising BIPOC Men Academy
Youth Counselor in Training Program
Cycling Safety for Youth
Podcasting for Change 101 - WooStories
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City of Worcester’s Whole Kids
City of Worcester Youth Workers Summer Symposium
Worcester Youth Development and Professional Leadership Symposium: Urban Educators Edition
Worcester Youth Workers Alliance
Voices of Worcester, Voices of Ferguson Conference
YWCA’s International Women’s Day
Worcester’s Boys & Men of Color Conference
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Korean American Citizens League of New England’s Young Leader Symposium Speaker
Clark University/s Lavender Graduation Ceremony Honoring LGBTQIA+ Students Keynote Speaker
LGBTQ Victory Institute’s 37th Annual International LGBTQ Leaders Conference “The Next Rainbow Wave: Running for Office” Panelist
Youth MOVE National Youth Making an Impact Through Civic Engagement
Clark University’s “Community Organizing and Civic Engagement: Grassroots Organizing” and "Justice to Jobs” Panelist
Holy Cross "Providing Abortion Care in States with Bans and Without: Stories from the Midwest, Texas, and Worcester" Panelist
“Preparation for the Oral National Examination,” “The role of the medical interpreter in end-of-life transcultural communication,” and “Medical interpreters and community health workers, when roles converge” at the Paving the Way to Health Care Annual Conference in 2011 and 2013
Supporting bilingual community health workers who facilitate access for linguistically diverse population, American Public Health Association 2011 Annual Meeting and Exposition, Washington, DC
FAQs
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We work with individuals as well as organizations of all sizes. Our clients come to us ready to devote time and resources to addressing social injustices and systemic gaps in their communities of focus. Our clients typically share our same values, are growth and action oriented, and have a willingness to be collaborative, co-create solutions. We hold that our clients are experts in their field but may need our support to bridge assessing and identify issues towards building strategies, approaches, skills and sustainable pathways of implementation. Our previous clients have included: non-profit organizations, health centers, grassroots organizations, state departments, and other consulting groups.
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We would schedule an initial consultation to learn more about each client, the organization, and what the hopes and goals are in working with us. We would then debrief internally in our collective to discuss who holds the expertise and skill sets and how many of us would be needed for this partnership. (Of course, clients can request specific consultant(s) but we cannot guarantee they will be available but we will do our best to place them on the team). After creating a team, we will then reconvene with our client to offer a proposal that will include our approach, scope of work, timeline, deliverables, and cost. We approach this work relationally, co-creating and adjusting as needed to meet the hopes and goals of the project.
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During our initial consultation we will learn about you, your organization, your needs and goals as well as your ideal timeline and budget for the project. After meeting with you, our collective will reconvene and put together a proposal for you that will include our approach, scope of work, timeline, deliverables, and cost.
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Contact us by filling out our contact us form! If you have specific questions, you can email us at: info@nguyenesparza.com