Creating a world that works for all of us.
What We Do
At the National Equity Project, we support leaders to transform their systems into equitable, resilient, and liberating environments.
We provide consulting and coaching to help leaders and teams make informed decisions and take more effective action. We design and facilitate professional learning experiences for educators and other leaders to reimagine and redesign their systems for equity.
Our services build culture, conditions, and competencies for excellence and equity in districts, organizations, foundations, and communities.
We Believe
It is possible to achieve more just, equitable, and liberating systems.
The work of creating systems committed to principled action, collective wellbeing and thriving begins in our imaginations — and requires us to acknowledge and make meaning of the historical and ongoing impacts of racism and white supremacy. Not to assign blame, but to inform a new way forward.
Our current systems perpetuate inequity by design.
Our public systems (education, healthcare, criminal justice, housing, etc.) were not created to produce equal outcomes or experiences for everyone. These structures - past and present - maintain inequity by design. These inequitable systems were not created by accident and they will not be undone by chance. New, liberating systems must be designed with conscious intention and a shared vision for a desired future state.
We need one another - our fates are linked.
If one part of our human ecosystem is unwell, we are all negatively affected. Likewise, if all parts of our community are healthy and cared for, we all thrive. Listening, sharing our stories, making space for healing (our own and others), and deepening relationships across our differences foster conditions for genuine belonging.
It takes rebel leadership to abolish unjust systems and catalyze positive change.
Rebel leaders make “good trouble”. They practice seeing, engaging, and acting in ways that build empathy and commitment; foster healing and increased agency; and activate equity, justice and belonging. Rebel leaders make inequities visible; disrupt reproductive discourse, practices and policies; and discover new ways to engage and co-design with their communities.
Transforming power and co-creation are core tenets of equity.
Centering equity in our actions and decision-making requires us to seek and invite the voices and experiences of young people, families, and communities that have been situated farthest from the opportunities and desired outcomes we espouse for everyone. Leading for equity requires us to redesign structures and processes to consciously redistribute power across role groups and institutions. Co-creation acknowledges that we build with and not for others — we invite, engage and design solutions and co-produce knowledge in partnership.
It is our legacy to fight for our collective freedom. We will win.
It is not revolutionary to work toward the ideals guaranteed to us by our citizenry. We have all inherited a rich history of abolitionists, freedom fighters, civil rights leaders, educators, union leaders — seemingly ordinary citizens of every color and creed who have modeled the type of unwavering faith, leadership and commitment to realizing a more just and perfect union. Our freedom, dignity and wellbeing is ours by right. We will win.
