Deliver on the promise of a quality education.
We are the National Equity Project.
The National Equity Project is a nonprofit, social impact organization committed to increasing the capacity of people to achieve thriving, self-determining, educated and just communities.
Our mission is to transform the experiences, outcomes, and life options for children and families who have been historically underserved by our institutions and systems.
Our approach focuses on systemic change through leadership development. We support leaders across systems to build culture, conditions, and competencies for excellence and equity in school districts, organizations, foundations, and communities.
We Work With
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School Districts
School Districts and Education Management Organizations focused on creating equitable learning environments through our District Redesign Network and Strategic Consulting and Design service.
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Educational Organizations
Education Organizations, Ecosystems & Funders through our Strategic Consulting and Design service, our Communities of Practice service and our many catalytic field partnerships.
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Individuals, Teams and Organizations
Individuals, Teams, and Organizations seeking equity-focused professional development through our open registration Center for Equity Leadership and Custom Professional Development service.
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Black Teachers
Black Teachers interested in racial-affinity based leadership development and community through our Black Teacher Project.
What We Do
We support leaders to transform their systems into equitable, resilient, and liberating environments. We provide consulting and coaching to help leaders and teams make informed decisions and take more effective action. We design and facilitate professional learning experiences for educators and other leaders to reimagine and redesign their systems for equity. We create and share tools and resources to catalyze new thinking and transformed action in schools, organizations, and communities.
Featured Resources
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Co-Design as a Catalyst for Equity
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Developing Youth-Adult Design Partnerships
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Setting Conditions for Co-Design in Youth-Adult Design Partnerships
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Using Liberatory Design to Center Student Experience
We Believe
It is possible to achieve more just, equitable, and liberating systems.
The work of creating systems committed to principled action, collective wellbeing and thriving begins in our imaginations — and requires us to acknowledge and make meaning of the historical and ongoing impacts of racism and white supremacy. Not to assign blame, but to inform a new way forward.
Our current systems perpetuate inequity by design.
Our public systems (education, healthcare, criminal justice, housing, etc.) were not created to produce equal outcomes or experiences for everyone. These structures - past and present - maintain inequity by design. These inequitable systems were not created by accident and they will not be undone by chance. New, liberating systems must be designed with conscious intention and a shared vision for a desired future state.
We need one another - our fates are linked.
If one part of our human ecosystem is unwell, we are all negatively affected. Likewise, if all parts of our community are healthy and cared for, we all thrive. Listening, sharing our stories, making space for healing (our own and others), and deepening relationships across our differences foster conditions for genuine belonging.
Leadership is required to address inequitable systems and catalyze positive change.
Leaders for equity make “good trouble”. They practice seeing, engaging, and acting in ways that build empathy and commitment; foster healing and increased agency; and activate equity, justice and belonging. Leaders for equity make inequities visible; disrupt reproductive discourse, practices and policies; and discover new ways to engage and co-design with their communities.
Transforming power and co-creation are core tenets of equity.
Centering equity in our actions and decision-making requires us to seek and invite the voices and experiences of young people, families, and communities that have been situated farthest from the opportunities and desired outcomes we espouse for everyone. Leading for equity requires us to redesign structures and processes to consciously redistribute power across role groups and institutions. Co-creation acknowledges that we build with and not for others — we invite, engage and design solutions and co-produce knowledge in partnership.
It is our legacy to fight for our collective freedom. We all deserve to thrive.
We have inherited a rich history of abolitionists, freedom fighters, civil rights leaders, educators, union leaders — people of every identity who have modeled the leadership and commitment necessary to realize a more just and equitable world. The adults and students we support today stand on the shoulders of generations of leaders committed to co-creating a world where we all can belong and thrive.
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