New York Foundation

Maria Mottola, Executive Director

“We needed a way to convey to our trustees the impact that our grantee partners are having through their community organizing and advocacy efforts. Alexa worked with us to develop a smart, illustrative vocabulary to bring to life the variety of strategies and accomplishments that grow out of the work we support. She not only delivered a product, but set in motion a process that we still use to keep our trustees engaged in our mission. Recently, Alexa gathered data through interviews with a variety of grantee partners that we will use to better understand and highlight how they are building political power for low-income communities and communities of color across New York State. She comes to the work with a depth of knowledge and experience working directly with the leaders and organizers we seek to learn from.”

Participatory Budgeting Project

Josh Lerner, Executive Director

“Alexa researched and wrote a landscape analysis for the Participatory Budgeting Project, identifying and analyzing four top examples of participatory democracy around the world. She expertly managed outreach and interviews with dozens of international experts, and turned this research into a clear and compelling report. Alexa consistently struck the right balance between driving the work forward and creating space for feedback and adjustments. Working with Alexa enabled us to quickly build a strong foundation for our program, adding highly skilled capacity at a critical moment.”

NY Immigration Coalition

BETSY PLUM, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY

"Alexa trained New York Immigration Coalition staff on participatory research methods and tools to use when crafting community-focused research and organizing campaigns. The training was responsive, engaging, and well received. We left with creative and accessible methods to refine the work we're already doing, and innovate when developing new projects. Alexa's deep expertise working across dozens of social justice avenues is a real asset, especially when working with seasoned organizers. I've already recommended a similar training to partner organizations, and wouldn't hesitate to bring Alexa back for continued professional development for our policy and advocacy staff at the NYIC."

North Star Fund

Jennifer Ching, Executive Director

“Alexa brings to every project her passion for centering the experiences and narrative of communities most impacted by injustice. Her unique experience in designing non-traditional research projects across sectors shines through in how she collaborates and works with all involved. She is not only a great organizer, skilled researcher and gifted writer, but a thought partner in the strategic ways in which research can be utilized by advocacy groups to build community power.”

Right to Counsel Coalition

Susanna Blankley, Coordinator

“I have partnered with Alexa on at least 5 different projects---while working with 2 different organizing groups. She is incredibly smart, thoughtful, deeply committed to the theory and practice of community organizing and to the members, works hard and fast, and is responsive in every way you would want---she listens, asks good questions, and adjusts the direction of the work to meet your needs. Often I come to Alexa with really just an idea, but no real concept of what would be involved. Alexa has an amazing ability to turn that idea into a real proposal that not only results in a powerful outcome, but that creates a process that builds the skills, knowledge and understanding of everyone who is involved. I have learned so much from working with her and I've seen our organizations grow, learn and build power and confidence through the projects we've done together.”

Community Voices Heard

Afua Atta-Mensah, Executive Director

“Alexa stepped into provide short term supervision and support for our new Research & Policy staff person during a period when I was on leave. Given her years of experience and expertise managing and supervising research and policy projects and staff, she was able to help to orient the new staff and provide ongoing support and feedback when needed. This work gave us the additional capacity we needed at a critical moment.”

NYC Kids RISE

Debra-Ellen Glickstein, Executive Director

Alexa worked with the NYC Kids RISE team to synthesize our work, approach, and accomplishments to date into a set of written "briefs." In addition to writing and editing, she helped us to determine the goals and audience for each brief; to narrow down the topic and which information to include; and to design a template for the content. After working with Alexa, we now have a comprehensive story about our work and the work of our partners that we can share with a broad range of stakeholders, funders and policymakers."

ENGAGE NY

Lisa Fasolo Frishman, Engage NY Coordinator

“Alexa assisted our team of grantmakers from across New York State in designing and facilitating a meeting that focused on trying to understand and map the New York State advocacy infrastructure in our key priority areas. Given her expertise with this topic, having her guide the conversation was critical to help us advance this work. The activities she designed, the care she took in crafting the questions, and the skill she used to keep the group on task and laser-focused was appreciated by the large group of individuals in the room. We look forward to engaging her in future work.”