Deitre Epps
Deitre Epps is the CEO and Founder of RACE for Equity, LLC.
Deitre has worked for over twenty years to address the ill effects of poverty on low income communities. She provided direct services to Baltimore City’s children and their families for over a decade as an educator and program director for infants to 8th grade students and as a professor at Baltimore City Community College. She also taught early childhood education courses at Towson State University. She was previously the founding director of the Baltimore School Readiness Initiative, a city-wide effort which contributed to an increase in kindergarten readiness from 27% to 58% over four years using the Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework.
Christine Capra
I’ve played many roles in change efforts over the decades, and have discovered that I’m happiest when acting as a Network Guardian, supporting others with the skills & tools they need to be as effective as possible.
To that end, I’ve applied my background in data-gathering/ evaluation/visualization, combined with my Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership, to my ongoing drive to discover and develop tools that can help others turn their social change visions into realities.
With my partner, Tim Hanson, I developed the network-data-gathering-tool sumApp (www.greaterthanthesum.com/sumapp) which anyone can subscribe to, to learn about the connections in their network. sumApp gathers that data in a social-network/survey-like platform and outputs the data in the format needed for network visualization tools such as Gephi and Kumu.io.
Curtis Ogden
Curtis Ogden is a Senior Associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC). Much of his work entails consulting with multi-stakeholder networks to strengthen and transform food, education, public health, and economic systems at local, state, regional, and national levels. He has worked with networks to launch and evolve through various stages of development.
Some of his current and past clients include: Food Solutions New England, Vermont Farm to Plate Network, InFACT at Ohio State, Partnership for the Future of Learning, New Technology Network, Next Generation Learning Challenges, Cancer Free Economy Network, Collaborative Action Newark, Community Practitioners Network (New Hampshire), and CareerSTAT/National Fund for Workforce Solutions.
William P. Moore, Ph. D.
Bill has spent his entire career working in our most challenged communities – both urban and rural – and with vulnerable populations to find solutions to our most pressing social, education, and health concerns. Bill is a Senior Fellow at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Principal at The Strategy Group.
The Group provides advisory and consultation services to foundations, nonprofits, schools and communities in areas of organizational learning, network development and community engagement, community capacity building, rural health and social justice issues. Bill recently retired from the REACH Healthcare Foundation after serving as the Vice President of Program and Evaluation where he guided the overall design, implementation and evaluation of the Foundation’s grant- and change-making strategies.
Beth Tener
Beth Tener is a leadership trainer and coach who helps social change leaders live their values as they address complex challenges, such as transitioning to a clean energy economy, disrupting racism, and revitalizing communities. She is passionate about bringing people together in ways that unlock and ignite personal, group, and community potential. She is the founder of New Directions Collaborative, based in Portsmouth, NH, and has worked with over 200 organizations and collaborative networks. Her current focus in an initiative based in New Hampshire called Kinship: a hub to amplify the power of community. Here, experienced community builders and social change leaders can connect and get peer support, coaching, and training. She also offers participatory meeting design services. Beth writes a blog on topics of collaborative leadership, systems change, and networked ways of working. She has also curated great lists of resources for network weavers here and here.
Abby Yanow
Abby Yanow is a Facilitator and Leadership coach. She has created and facilitated many peer learning networks for the purpose of knowledge-sharing, problem solving and collaboration. Her colleagues consider her the go-to person for creating communities of practice. Abby also coaches facilitators on network and meeting design.
Since 2001, Abby has served as President of the Boston Facilitators Roundtable. In the BFR she has developed a thriving community of facilitators and consultants who generously share their knowledge and expertise. Under her leadership, the BFR was awarded the 2015 Outstanding Regional Organizational Development Network award.
Debbie Gowensmith
Debbie Gowensmith, M.S., is vice-president of Groundswell Services, Inc., dedicated to strengthening equity-building movements. She provides consultation in evaluation and community-based research, specializing in network facilitation and evaluation.
Debbie has found networking to be a key component in developing innovative, powerful ideas that catalyze social change. Her experience includes six years directing an organization that empowered Hawaiian communities to reclaim stewardship of the places where they live, work and play. Through networking, dozens of isolated Hawaiian communities more quickly and effectively created dynamic community-driven resource management projects that are changing conservation in Hawai‘i.
Derrick Rhayn
Derrick Rhayn is the Chief Catalyst at Networks for Change, a Seattle consulting firm specializing in building the capacity of social change networks and nonprofit organizations through consulting, training, and coaching. As a ‘network weaver,’ Derrick focuses on facilitating increased connectivity within networks and nonprofits as a way of unleashing their potential, mobilizing their hidden assets, and generating innovative solutions with an orientation towards systems change.
Derrick has spent his entire career in the nonprofit sector, and has a passion for fund development, emerging economic models, and food systems. He is currently working with groups focused on circular economy, regional food systems, cooperative economics, impact investing, and community development finance.
Janne K. Flisrand
My own work makes cities great places for the people who live there. I work so everyone has a secure home, for streets that put people first, and to stop climate change. I'm trained as an applied urban anthropologist, a field focused on understanding and amplifying other people's voices. Since 2004, I've designed and led networks that lift up member's power.
I mix and match resources to make positive change. With Minnesota Green Communities, a state-wide green affordable housing initiative, I plotted our path towards a green rehab standard. My task force process addressed the concerns of funders, engineers, and energy professionals. Together, they crafted an affordable, healthy, buildable set of expectations. We'll scale up your network's impact, whether you need big-picture thinking to get a jumpstart, or small design details to make the most of every interaction.
Kristin Johnstad
My consulting practice focuses on strengthening the capacity of individuals, networks and communities to address such complex challenges as access to healthy food, equitable youth and family outcomes, health and economic disparities and the fragmentation of out of school time enrichment opportunities for students. I have ongoing relationships with an exceptional cadre of consultants and assemble teams to get the best results for my clients.
My areas of network expertise include: coaching, training, facilitating peer-learning models, designing effective and fun engagement strategies, and helping others get excited about using data to mobilize, plan and take collective action.