We strengthen the impact of educational institutions’ outreach programs + research initiatives. We’ve brought design thinking workshops, program evaluation + expertise to:

• Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Berman Institute for Bioethics

• JHU School of Medicine Wilmer Eye Institute

• UC Berkeley Dept of Political Science

• U Penn Dept of Political Science

• Adelphi University

• San Francisco State University

We advance city, county, state + federal agencies’ initiatives, policies + programs, engaging stakeholders to identify needs, develop + conduct comprehensive evaluations to boost alignment, capacity building + outcomes. We’ve worked on:

• Santa Clara County’s Juvenile Justice recidivism study

• Santa Clara County Justice Dept’s Neighborhood Safety Services Unit place-based initiative evaluation + capacity building

• Ventura County Juvenile Justice Plan

• Evaluation of San Mateo County’s Youthful Offender Block Grant programs + services

We’ll help you engage stakeholders, measure impact, make data-informed decisions, build capacity, plan strategically + strengthen partnerships. We’ve developed a comprehensive evaluation and roadmap for:

• San Mateo County’s Human Services Agency’s Foster Youth Employment + Education Programs + Services

• San Mateo County’s Human Services Agency Child + Family Resource Centers that embed mental health professionals within the County’s highest need schools

We help non-profits, grassroots organizations, and CBOs articulate what they do, and how much and how well they do it. We build capacity for making data-driven decisions and sustain community development initiatives.

We’ve helped organizations like Acknowledge Alliance and Nueva Vida Community tell their story, conduct process evaluations, and build internal capacity through human-centered design and research + evaluation training to the dial up on their impact

We have experience leveraging our expertise and experience to conduct Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) for major hospitals and health care providers such as Kaiser Permanente Community Health Needs Assessment

We support global development initiatives through impact assessments, program evaluations, capacity-building workshops, and strategic guidance.

For example, we’ve leveraged our expertise to help the International Organization for Migration, Government of Jamaica, and US State Department’s Counter-Trafficking Division in partnership with faculty at UC Berkeley and UPenn ensure developmental fit of research methods used to gather data from Jamaican youth as part of the IOM Child Traffcking Prevalence Study.

We help foundations and philanthropic organizations maximize the impact of their investments by helping design effective grant-making strategies and build the evaluation capacity of grantees to maximize social impact. For example, we’ve:

For example, we’ve developed and led Evaluation Training 101 for Sequoia Healthcare District’s grantees so that they are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and mindset to evaluate, measure, and report out on the impact of their programs and services

Bridging the gap between agencies, organizations, and institutions to provide skill-building and capacity building workshops, trainings, and coaching directly to community members so they can actively engage in their own lives and the lives of those in their community.

Dr. Ja has designed and facilitated workshops in life design, design thinking, and designing wellness, and provided individual coaching for individual community members as a Faculty Member of Innovation and Human-Centered Design at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

Working with diverse teams of creative change makers such as the global design firm, ThinkPlace, we’ve used innovative human-centered design and design thinking tools and approaches to lead with empathy as we engage community stakeholders in the process of re-imagining complex systems for change.

We offer tailored services encompassing research-backed insights, strategic guidance, and capacity-building support to effectively advance advocacy efforts of our partners. We have experience leveraging our experience and expertise to support partners including:

• First 5 Del Norte County

• First 5 Ventura County

• First 5 Contra Costa

We partner with corporations involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives (CSR) or community development projects to maximize the effectiveness and sustainability of their social investment efforts. We develop the leadership capacity of executives, directors, and managers through powerful + transformational coaching.

• Internal Coach for Directors and Managers at College Track, a national organization dedicated to confronting systemic barriers and supporting young people become the first in their family to earn a college degree + use that degree to launch a meaningful career