*Emily Boer Drake and Jessica Xiomara García*

In 2023, Learning for Action (LFA) became a fully women-owned organization when Jessica Xiomara García and Emily Boer Drake stepped into ownership.

Today, we are excited to share that in addition to being co-owners we have officially transitioned into our new roles as LFA’s Co-CEOs.

As longtime team members and practitioners at LFA, we will continue to lead and contribute to the meaningful work and impact that LFA is known for creating in the communities we serve. And we are excited to bring new energy and ways of working, as we co-lead our team in identifying new ways to further align our organizational intentions and impact.

“I remember sitting in my interview when applying for my first job at LFA, hearing and feeling so excited about LFA’s vision to be both a microcosm of the communities we serve, and an example of an organization that truly aligns our values with our practice. That ethic has always been a through thread, and now I’m in a position to shape LFA’s future with equity at the center.”

— Jessica

Conscious and Joyful Co-Leadership

In our roles as Co-CEOs, we will assume the stewardship of LFA’s mission, values, and vision – using our power consciously and together to affect positive change.

We look forward to continuing to engage with current and future clients to identify opportunities where we can support the great work they are doing. We will also continue to focus our consulting practice on equitable learning cultures to meet the most pressing needs of our clients and the social sector. We look forward to being in conversation with organizations and other practitioners in our sector!

If you would like some time with Emily and Jessica, please make sure to let us know by emailing us at CEOs@learningforaction.com.

WHAT IS NOT CHANGING

Our vision and values

LFA has a rich history and practice of working with leading social sector organizations, public agencies, and forward-looking foundations that support them. Our vision is that all communities have the knowledge, resources, and power to thrive, and all people experience equity, justice, and dignity. Since our founding in 2000, we have engaged with close to 1,000 organizations across the United States and internationally working collaboratively to create the necessary changes in systems and communities that drive the strategic impact we all desire. Our work remains centered on our values of equity, integrity, compassion, and curiosity.

Our mission to create equitable learning cultures

Our work – which largely occurs at the intersections of evaluation, learning, and strategy – will continue to be delivered through our capacity-building approach which supports our clients in operationalizing their own power to affect positive change on their own. As always, we seek to strengthen organizations and their learning cultures so they can continue the work after the consulting engagement ends.

OUR TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

Turning the mirror on ourselves

Over the past several years we have been on our own journey of learning and growth as an organization and as leaders. We have wrestled with some of the same challenges as our clients – how to truly center equity, how to align our intentions with our impact, and how to honor the unique gifts, strengths, and needs that each member of our team brings to the table.

Like many organizations, our experience of the pandemic and the racial reckoning of 2020 was a major inflection point. We recognized that we needed to take a deeper look at how power is held and wielded in our organization, so we engaged external equity consultants, assessed our leadership structure, established a more diverse interim management team, and engaged staff in redefining LFA’s mission, vision, and values. This work has been both hard and rewarding and has allowed us to be intentional about setting forth our own organization’s equity goals and vision. And for us, we know the work needs to be ongoing and deliberate.

Defining what equity means to LFA

Our focus on equity is not new to LFA, but we have now taken some time as a full staff to define the value for ourselves. Our shared definition is something that guides us both internally in our own practices and externally in our alignment with clients.

Equity means that everyone has what they need to be successful, thrive, and feel fulfilled, while considering that different people have different access to resources because of systems of oppression and privilege. Equity addresses that disparity, which means dismantling systems that disadvantage some and privilege others, to make sure that each person can access opportunity. We will continue to ground our work in equity, seeing it as both a means and an end.

Lessons on embodying equity in our leadership

Since we know well that learning is an ongoing, iterative praxis, in the spirit of embodying learning for action, we want to share some initial reflections and lessons-learned over the past several years as we’ve stepped into a new type of leadership:

“Equity in our own organization and in our consulting work requires all of us to be proactive and not just reactive. It takes courage to not shy away from things that each of us and LFA needs to work on. We have to speak up—to name what we see and address our challenges. When we shy away from being proactive, we perpetuate systems, processes, and ways of working with each other that need to change.”

— Emily

“I think that too often, equity is viewed as some sort of end-state, or an outcome of dismantling systems of marginalization and oppression. Of course, it is, and it is also a practice that we need to ground ourselves in – the practice of listening deeply to the voices that are usually silenced in our communities, of committing to centering and sharing their stories in our work, of practicing curiosity instead of judgment, and leaning into the meaningful (and often uncomfortable) conversations about power and privilege.”

— Jessica

APPRECIATON AND LOOKING FORWARD

We want to take this opportunity to thank all our staff during this period of transition and learning, and we want to acknowledge and appreciate our external coaches - Nico Chin and Sarah Silva - who have brought their expertise and wisdom to LFA. We are excited to continue sharing our reflections and lessons learned with you - our community - as we move forward in this meaningful journey together.

We’re also appreciative to our founder and previous CEO, Steven LaFrance, who will continue to support us in his role as an LFA Board member, and as a collaborator in the sector. (If you’d like to stay in touch with Steven you can follow him here).

Writing the next chapter of LFA’s journey

We believe deeply in the power of community to drive real, meaningful, and lasting change to the systems in our world that prioritize preserving the status-quo over creating equitable and inclusive experiences for all.

We love hearing about what you’re learning and exploring challenging questions with our partners. We’re always looking for more values-aligned work and enjoy co-designing engagements with our fantastic clients. Reach out to us at Info@learningforaction.com to learn more about how LFA could support your learning and organizational goals.

Thank you for being in community with us, and we look forward to learning and growing alongside you in the months and years to come.

— Jessica and Emily

Stay tuned for more as we share our own journey as an organization, and lessons learned from listening deeply and leaning into important conversations about equity-grounded and data-informed work with our clients and our team.

NEW LEADERSHIP MILESTONE FOR LFA