I am a Portland, OR based facilitator, trainer and consultant with 20 years’ experience in community organizing, community development, public policy engagement, organizational equity, conflict resolution, and restorative justice. My approach to all of my work includes analysis of the race, gender and power dynamics that are present in every interpersonal conflict, every group and organization, and every social structure. I am dedicated to sharing skills and tools for anti-oppressive conflict transformation and trauma healing towards collective liberation.

My passion for this work is deeply rooted in a lifetime of experience navigating the challenges of life as a single mother living at the poverty line and unpacking my whiteness and white privilege while living, learning, working and loving in Black and Latinx communities. I grew up in NE Portland, attending Harriet Tubman Middle School, Grant High School and Portland State University, before moving to Washington DC to work in international and community development and complete a MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

After returning to Portland, I served as Resolutions Northwest’s Facilitation Program Coordinator from 2015 – 2019. During that time I shifted RNW’s facilitator training program from a volunteer program teaching dominant culture meeting practices and serving mostly white folks, to a community and capacity building program serving primarily People of Color with an explicitly pro-Black cohort of facilitators doing racial equity work. I also worked with dozens of organizations around the Portland metro area, providing facilitated processes, trainings and consultation in equity-informed conflict resolution, organizational restorative justice, anti-racism and organizational equity.

To be clear, as a white woman, I do not do “equity work” alone. When needed, I will definitely go in and wrangle the white folks to spare my colleagues the labor and impacts; but I can only be successful in this work by fully collaborating with and deferring to my Black colleagues and other colleagues of color. You can read more about my fabulous collaborators and their independent practices and projects by scrolling down or clicking here.

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Collaborators

My colleagues each have their own private practices, we collaborate on projects as our interests, skills and availability align. If their offerings sound like a better fit for what you are looking for, please contact them directly!

2023 Racial Equity Consultant Development Program

A collaborative offering of Subduction Consulting and El Porvenir Services, the 2023 Racial Equity Consultant Development Program is an intensive 12-month mentorship and professional development program. Building upon their existing skill sets, our RECDP Associates are either working to build their own independent consulting practice or strengthening their capacity to consult on racial equity issues throughout their organization’s departments and programs. Our goal is to develop a non-hierarchical, non-exploitative, mutually supportive, collaborative network of racial equity consultants and facilitators, representing a wide diversity of intersectional identities, lived experiences and subject matter expertise.

Each of our Associates has a strong intersectional racial equity analysis and unique areas of expertise. Most are currently accepting inquiries for new projects, including coaching, consultation, training, facilitation, organizational assessment, strategic planning and community outreach & engagement services.

If you are interested in working with a specific associate, please feel free to reach out to them directly (contact info in linked bios), for general inquiries please use our contact form.

2023 RECDP Associates