Autumn Woods

Transforming Organizations and Practices: Bringing a Holistic, Justice-centered Approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Services.

Project 986 specializes in designing DEI services focused on employee growth as well as organizational transformation. Our goal is to inspire increased investment in enhancing employee experiences and support you in developing achievable, progressive goals to serve clients, customers and diverse populations, including historically marginalized groups.

The heart of what we do

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DEI & Power Assessments

We carefully assess your policies and practices to identify improvement areas, inform strategy changes, and optimize for DEI objectives.

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Strategic Planning

We work with you to draft DEI and racial equity strategic plans so you can spearhead transformational change for your organization.

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Workshops, Dialogues & Trainings

We design customized, interactive, and transformative educational experiences for your employees, partners, clients, and communities.

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Racial Equity & Anti-Racism Services

We help organizations navigate complex sociocultural landscapes, promote justice-centered values, and realize racially equitable outcomes.

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Restorative Healing

We support individuals and groups who need it most, promoting healing, resiliency, and self-care for those who experience trauma or harm due to societal, organizational, or institutional factors.

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Leadership Coaching

We empower your leaders and decision-makers with the tools to inspire culture change and promote a sense of belonging for all stakeholders.

Trusted by industry-leading companies around the globe

Learn more about

Carmen Phelps, PhD, DEI & Racial Equity Consultant

Carmen brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her work, with a focus on community-building, learning, and planning processes. Her dedication to honoring and respecting the dignity, voices, and lived experiences of all individuals is at the core of her approach.

Carmen Phelps

Realize Your DEI Vision

Contact us to learn more about how we can we help you achieve your DEI goals.

FAQs

Find answers to common questions about our DEI services and their implementation in organizations like yours.

Prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion values in internal and external practices and outcomes (how your practices impact diverse populations, including historically marginalized groups), reflects an organization’s commitment to principles of fairness and equality, including, for instance, its desire to create equitable opportunities for culturally and racially diverse populations. Promoting DEI values in practices and outcomes in an intentional, purposeful way also represents an organization’s goal to proactively mitigate various forms of systemic, institutional and cultural bias, including racial bias, which have disadvantaged marginalized populations and over-advantaged others.

Promoting racial equity through organizational practices involves specialized processes designed to mitigate, disrupt and/or challenge the impact of racially biased systems that have adverse impacts on the lived experiences and life outcomes of BIPOC (Black; Indigenous/First Nation; Asian; Non-White Hispanic/Latinx & Multiracial) populations. Such processes are meant to increase opportunities for social and economic mobility for BIPOC populations who continue to be marginalized by race and whose access to vital resources (i.e healthcare; housing; employment, healthy food; clean air, etc.) are disproportionately lower compared to White populations.

Justice-centered coaching services provided by Project 986 are tailored to the needs of individuals seeking to increase their capacity to model DEI-centered values through behaviors; interactions; decision-making and communication. Justice-centered coaching encourages individuals to explore opportunities to better understand potential challenges, barriers or obstacles – whether personal or professional – which may exist and impede their desire to promote DEI and justice-centered values in their roles and daily lives. As such, justice-centered coaching not only benefits the individuals experiencing them but also those with whom they work; serve and support in their organization.

No. However, prioritizing DEI and racial equity work requires ongoing education and learning, and clients seeking to promote DEI and racial equity through practices and outcomes should be prepared to engage in such efforts for the longer-term. While prior knowledge or training is not required in order to take initial steps to engage in this work, it is important to experience continuous education to support the long-term implementation of action steps consistent with DEI and racial equity goals and as your work evolves.

The most common challenge organizations face in this work is making the decision to commit to DEI and/or racial equity goals for long-term impact. Too often, organizations enter into this work for the shorter-term rather than committing to ongoing work which is meant to have favorable impact on diverse internal and external invested parties. It is important that organizations are prepared to invest in this urgent work beyond the shorter-term and in order to ingrain DEI and racial equity values into their internal and external-facing practices as needed.

Contact us. We are excited to have a conversation with you to learn about your desire to explore options for a pathway forward to promote DEI and racial equity values through practices and outcomes for the benefit of your employees and external invested parties.

Still have questions?

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Project 986 Indigenous Peoples & First Nation Land Acknowledgment

Project 986 operates in the region which provided vital resources to its original inhabitants, including the Accohannock Indian Nation; the Assateague Peoples Nation and the Piscataway Conoy Nation. We acknowledge the histories and legacies of their voices; ways of living and sacred traditions which continue to resonate and remain present within the culture and land of Montgomery County, MD. We are intentional and humble in our desire to honor and embrace opportunities to enact ideals of community; sustainability and humanity and to serve as stewards of the land and resources which daily enrich our lives and make our services possible.

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