Through Ayni Community Strategies LLC, I advise nonprofit and philanthropic organizations on catalyzing social justice and equity through investments in collaborative leadership and systems and policy change.
Services include:
- Research, strategy advising, and strategic planning for organizations, programs and initiatives – I help organizations and funders set a clear direction through research, partner engagement, and ongoing strategic advice, from multi-year organizational plans to strategy for new programs and initiatives.
- Development of implementation tools for organizational and programmatic strategic plans – I turn strategic plans into workplans, metrics, and reporting tools that staff and boards use to track progress and keep the plan alive.
- Planning and facilitating meetings and learning communities – I design and lead convenings, retreats, community engagement sessions, and learning communities that bring diverse stakeholders together to learn from each other and act on shared goals.
How I work:
I don’t use cookie-cutter approaches and templates. Each project is different, and I work to assess clients’ needs and goals to design and carry out processes customized to each situation. No matter the task, I strive to always act consistently with my values.
Clients and Projects have included:
Research, strategy advising, and strategic planning for organizations, programs and initiatives
- Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative – Serving as Senior Advisor for sustained collaboration project for housing and homelessness organizations (2026)
- Downtown Women’s Center – Developing 2027-2029 strategic plan (2026)
- Measure of America – Developed and advised on housing justice content and roll-out of Portrait of California 2021-2022 and managed the development and release of Portrait of Los Angeles County 2026 (2021, 2023-2026)
- St. Joseph Center – Developed 2026-2029 organizational strategic plan in partnership with Monique King-Viehland (2020, 2025)
- PATH – Developed 2021-23 organizational strategic plan through research and stakeholder engagement process and created Board Development plan. Developed 2024-28 organizational strategic plan, in partnership with Monique King-Viehland (2020-2024)
- Social Justice Partners Los Angeles – Analyzed organizational data and produced a report on “The Wellbeing of LA’s Homeless Response Workers” (2024)
- 211 San Diego – Developed organizational strategic plan through research and stakeholder engagement process (2021-2022)
- The Deutsch Foundation – Researched and developed plan for place-based initiative on homelessness and facilitated community advisory group that provided funding recommendation to foundation trustees and staff (2019-2021)
- Cedars-Sinai – Developed strategic plan for housing and homelessness initiative and oversaw first round of funding (2019-2020)
- FrameWorks Institute – Designed and facilitated organizational strategic planning (2019-2020)
- Swipe Out Hunger – Planned and facilitated board strategic planning retreat (2019)
- Weingart Foundation – Researched and developed strategic direction for housing and homelessness funding focusing on racial equity and advised on implementation (2019-2021)
Development of implementation tools for organizational and programmatic strategic plans
- Union Station Homeless Services – Developed implementation planning and reporting tools for organizational strategic plan in partnership with Monique King-Viehland (2026)
- Brilliant Corners – Provided strategic advising and implementation tools to help the organization deepen its external influence and relationships and develop a shared internal vision for identifying and securing flexible funding opportunities (2025-2026)
- Fund for Housing and Opportunity – Provided recommendations for implementing a community advisory process to inform funding approaches and strategies (2021)
Planning and facilitating meetings and learning communities
- International City/County Management Association – Planned and facilitated session for ICMA’s Economic Mobility and Opportunity Special Assistants Program on how EMO initiatives can build and sustain alignment with internal and external partners (2026)
- First 5 LA – Facilitated and documented an equity-centered community engagement process to inform strategies and recommendations to decrease housing insecurity for families with children 0-5 in Los Angeles County (2026)
- Neighborhood Data for Social Change – Carried out community engagement via survey and visual sessions to gather feedback to inform State of Los Angeles County Housing & Neighborhoods report (2026)
- CSH – Co-led project, advisory groups, and co-design process for increasing voice and power for people with lived experience of homelessness in Los Angeles (2020-2021)
- St. Joseph Center – Co-facilitated board discussion on racial equity (2020)
- Housing California – Led project management for Roadmap HOME 2030, a collaboration with California Housing Partnership and a broad stakeholder coalition (2019-2021)
- Housing Justice LA Summit – Organized and produced the January 2020 Summit (2019-2020)
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – Organized a statewide convening for philanthropic funders on California homelessness and housing policy (2019)
- Richmond Memorial Health Foundation – Moderated National Advisory Board meeting on health and housing (2019)
*Ayni is an indigenous Andean principle and practice of reciprocity, mutuality, and interdependence. This worldview has had a strong influence on me, from living in the region and having dear friends and family there. It exemplifies how I approach my consulting work and is consistent with my values. I also find it expressed in the words of another teacher of mine, Martin Luther King, Jr.’ in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
