About drake strategy partners
Drake Strategy Partners works with nonprofits and other groups interested in social change.
Our focus is organizational development.
We help leaders and teams articulate their values, align them to mission and strategy, and implement systems and practices that help them reach their goals.
Let's be honest: Black people and other marginalized folks suffer disproportionate harm when we get it wrong. We don't create strategy in a vacuum, because a good idea is only as good as its responsiveness to the people it purports to help.
We help you assess how the things you do well intersect with the things your partners on the ground need and are asking for -- and then we help you run with it, building the capacity and systems you need to do it right.
THE RIGHT EXPERIENCE
I have spent more than fifteen years in the nonprofit sector, first working my way through the ranks of organizations at the local and national levels and as a consultant since 2015. I have wrestled with the very questions you may be considering right now: how much or how quickly should we grow? What are our values and do they need to change? What even is our process for making big decisions?
As a worker bee inside organizations and as a partner from the outside, I have learned that navigating these existential questions is easier with the right facilitation, the right data to help guide your decision, and a supportive partner who sees you, gets you, and knows what it's like to be where you are. My formal training is in social work, specifically in management and leadership. It tells you how I see the world. How race, class, and gender always matter. How power organizes and shapes institutions as we know them.
I have developed, run, and evaluated programs. I have helped shape federal policy. I have managed staff and budgets. I have sat in rooms with powerful elected and appointed officials. And I did it all as a Black woman from St. Louis, Missouri. My background in the sector and my lived experience inform the work that I do. My professional credentials in social work and management give me a sharp analysis and make me a quick study. And I've honed these skills in a city and state where progress is hard-won.
Working with Us
When you work with Drake Strategy Partners you get technical expertise in management, planning, and leadership -- but you also get a long-term partner who will help you create a plan or product that makes sense for your organization and your specific circumstances.
Most organizational development issues are not just about putting a plan on paper; they require assessment, analysis, engagement with your many stakeholders, and support for effective implementation.
Together we can work to create processes and plans that work for your specific context -- and we are committed to helping you see it through to completion.
