Honk NYC!

The demand for this festival featuring street bands playing music in various venues and schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City, posed an immediate and daunting challenge to it’s founders: how to exist without the benefit of strategic planning and implementation, and still make day-to-day decisions? The benefit of applying our process revealed the absence of a mission statement. We first supported Honk NYC! Leadership to create a mission statement that speaks directly to its audiences, venues, participants, talent and funders to give a concise explanation of their reason for existing. We continue capacity building services to make the festival more attractive to funders and increase engagement in communities.

Island Voice and Canvas Institute

Deeply-rooted in its community, this nonprofit champions cultural equity and access through programs that address immigration, health and wellness; showcases visual arts in their gallery and possesses a rare collection of books donated by authors of African descent in their library. During analysis, the recurring theme of needing a better way to conduct business while charting the future course of the organization emerged. As a result, we’re providing custom strategies targeted to navigate their roadmap to sustainability by revising the organizational structure, board development and the creation of a fundraising plan to complement the current marketing plan. The benefits of building a valuable foundation engender ongoing success.

Staten Island Community Charter School

Committed to building community, the opportunity to help a concerned civic group ensure that all students of the North Shore have equal access to quality education and to reduce the longstanding achievement gap for many of these students who were disadvantaged, led to the establishment of the first nonprofit K-5 Charter School. Our principles guided the extensive application process to be authorized by the New York City Dept. of Education and designed community engagement activities to receive a charter from the New York State Board of Regents. The urgent need for additional classrooms in the rented private facility, presented an innovative solution by installing state-of-the art modular units in the gymnasium, receiving the top prize for architecture at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Serving as the first board chair and Chief Operating Officer, noteworthy benefits to the community resulted in a choice of school options; the creation of hundreds of jobs in the nonprofit and education sectors; working with government and elected officials, business leaders, foundations and individual donors and the media to raise the school’s visibility and funding opportunities; graduated two 5^th grade classes to top middle schools in the city; raised ELA and Math scores significantly. In spite of improved test scores, 3 years of stellar audits and excellent operating procedures, the charter wasn’t renewed. At the present time, we are consulting school leadership with the dissolution of the charter.