Alignment. strategy. impact.

 

We help nonprofits and other groups interested in social change create the infrastructure, strategies, and practices that help them engage authentically and effectively with the people who need their programs.

Drake Strategy Partners believes

Black communities and other marginalized people deserve partnerships with organizations and other leaders who see them for who they are: full of ideas, fully capable of advocacy and action, and whole human beings entitled to the resources that will help them thrive. Drake Strategy Partners helps prepare nonprofit leaders for these partnerships.

 
 

Meet the Founder

 

Jennifer Drake is Owner & Consultant at Drake Strategy Partners.

Jennifer's training is social work, her lens is organizational development, and her purpose is making life materially better for Black communities, Black women, and other people who tend to be marginalized and erased.

She lives ten minutes from the house she grew up in - and where her parents still live - in St. Louis and does not tolerate STL slander (while fully recognizing and working diligently on its dysfunction). Her career has also included work on policy and advocacy at the national level and partnerships in states and communities all over the country.

Jennifer is mom to eight-year-old Noah, whose voice you will absolutely hear in the background of most phone calls should you work with Drake Strategy Partners.

 
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Hear from Clients

 
Testimonials

“Jennifer began working with ArchCity Defenders on a single capacity-building project in 2018, and we continue to call on her regularly for support and guidance years later. She has supported us through capacity-building, strategic planning, and program and policy development, among other things. She has helped us to sharpen our goals, values, and focus as an organization, and has truly become part of the ArchCity Defenders family. Jennifer brings the kind of steadiness and generosity that comes from having held roles as a trainer, leader, facilitator, and practitioner. She is clear and knowledgeable without being heavy-handed. I am glad to have the privilege of working with Jennifer, and I recommend her to nearly every organizational leader that I know!”

Blake Strode, Executive Director
ArchCity Defenders

"The Institute for Healing Justice and Equity (IHJE) hired Drake Strategy Partners because we needed guidance contouring our core values, mission, approaches, and strategies to ensure they aligned with our individual and collective visions for the institute. Jennifer was such a great listener and synthesizer. She was able to take various ideas and communication styles and create synergy.

Because of Jennifer, our institute can identify projects in alignment with our vision, we are equipped to say no to opportunities that take away from our goals, we adopted new processes and mechanisms for smoother and efficient operations, and we are a stronger team. Jennifer brings with her a long history of invaluable knowledge around organizational leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion, anti-racism, policy change, and structural transformation. We made the unanimous decision to continue working with Drake Strategy Partners into the near future. We are grateful for her."

Amber Johnson, Ph.D., Co-Founder
Institute for Healing Justice and Equity at Saint Louis University

“As a new racial justice organization, we hired Drake Strategy Partners to support the development of integral systems that will strengthen our long-term strategic planning and organizational growth including board development, staffing structures, and fundraising planning. Her commitment and support of Action St. Louis is holistic and she is completely present and responsive to the changing needs of our growing organization.

What I consider the most valuable and central to our continued relationship with Jennifer is her commitment to the values and vision of Action St. Louis and our work to support and empower Black communities throughout St. Louis. Her approach is innovative and she strives to offer solutions that disrupt the ways in which non-profit culture can perpetuate toxic and harmful practices. She is unapologetically brilliant and the best consultant I have ever worked with. Action St. Louis is stronger because of our relationship with Jennifer and I recommend her everywhere I go.”

Kayla Reed, Co-founder & Executive Director
Action St. Louis