Our vision is that social change makers are resilient leaders, organizations are anti-racist, and collaboration is equitable, accountable, and effective.
Gina Airey Consulting (“G.A.C.”) facilitates social change makers toward the clarity, consensus, and collaboration needed to reach their visions.
Since 2003, we have partnered with leaders who advance policies, systems, and services that are just, equitable, and sustainable.
These values express the essence of who we are at GAC:
Social justice & racial equity: What we stand for.
We are united by our shared purpose and desire to invest our individual and collective energies and skills in advancing justice and equity. This foundational mission is what calls us in and sets the tone for our relationships and work. Because we stand for uplifting society, our values, and practices also intentionally uplift.
Impact & transformation: What motivates our work.
This is a place to engage in meaningful, impactful work that is motivated by our commitment to justice and equity and grounded in empathy and appreciation for our team, our clients, and the communities we serve. We believe that the deep value we offer clients is made possible through the internal culture that we co-create.
Co-creation & collaboration: How we create impact.
We consciously co-design collaborative alliances that are mutually respectful and honoring. We welcome the unique creative spark in each of us. Our intention is to contribute to a collective effort greater than any individual that is enhanced by the intrapreneurial spirit in each of us.
Community of care: How we are able to co-create.
We hold each other and ourselves with love, compassion, and spaciousness. The opportunity to work together is precious and so we engage with authenticity and vulnerability. We commit to multiple levels of care: care for self, team, clients, and communities.
Growth Mindset & Agency: How we approach our roles.
We each bring a passion to learn, unlearn, explore, and grow. We practice radical curiosity and experimentation, holding that many things that are “not-yet” are possible. In this spirit, we embrace leaning into transformative conflict and open communication, witnessing, and supporting each other’s creative powers.
Abundance: How we hold our work and growth as an organization.
We stand firmly rooted in the belief that there is an abundant flow of resources, opportunities to contribute, knowledge, and ideas that will meet us at the right moments. This offers a sense of stability, trust, and open-hearted sharing that supports us in being true to ourselves, each other, and our mission.
In addition to our values, these equity principles guide how we approach all relationships and each project. They are guided by Race Forward’s definition of racial equity: as both an outcome and a process.
Equity as a process means that transformation happens as we go, it’s not just the result of the plan we build together
Implementing equity practices throughout a process, including bringing in new practices and ways of collaborating within the client’s organization and disrupting traditional consultant and client dynamics
Equity is always a work in progress and no one will be perfect at it
Being transparent about our experiences and giving each other feedback along the way - even when that means leaning into discomfort or generative conflict. We are always learning, and always requesting our clients’ input and feedback
Equity requires discomfort and stretching
Taking personal accountability to lean in and stretch, to be cognizant of our growth edges AND of our boundaries. Not pushing beyond current capacity, which is different for everyone. Remembering that respecting our own boundaries is also a revolutionary practice and a vital piece of doing the work
Equity challenges the ways white dominant culture and inequities have been built into organizations
Challenging power dynamics and explicit and implicit hierarchies by expanding who gives input, witnesses, or makes decisions and increasing transparency in ways that support equity
GAC’s Theory of Change: Strategically & Collaboratively Pursuing Equity
Guided by our values of Social Justice & Racial Equity and Impact & Transformation, the GAC team has crafted our Theory of Change. We guide our clients through this process too.
Summary statement:
The work of social change - improving our communities, relationships, and the availability and distribution of resources - is never complete. Living accountably in community means being engaged in ongoing, generative practice on the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and ideological levels to improve, grow, build, and learn.
In order to reach the equitable world we are working toward, anti-racist principles must guide this work at every level (equity is a process and an outcome).
GAC’s work to strengthen social change actors, organizations, and ecosystems (via collaborative efforts) is complementary to other anti-racist efforts to strengthen individuals, relationships, organizations, and ecosystems.
