EcoTrust
Equity in Urban Agriculture Program
Portland, OR
Climate-Smart Agriculture capacity building and technical assistance for BIPOC farmers in Portland's urban agriculture community, including growers connected to the Black Farmers' Collective and Seattle Central College's Urban Growing Community Leadership Education Program. Curriculum co-designed with farmers themselves, rooted in their own lived expertise.
Outcome
Minimum of eight trainings co-developed and delivered across six CSA practices. December 2025's stormwater session was hosted with East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District (EMSWCD) and connected farmers to Oregon Climate Ag Network's Soil Health Network.
ServicesCommunity listening sessions · Workshop design and delivery · Farmer technical assistance · Training curriculum development · Microgrant program advisory
State of Colorado · Outdoor Strategy
Guidance Framework for Tribal Collaboration
Colorado
Under contract with the State of Colorado's Outdoor Strategy initiative, Azimu Group synthesized and illustrated the Tribal Collaboration Wheel for the first Guidance Framework for Tribal Collaboration, developed masterclasses on the legal, policy and Indigenous frameworks that uphold Indigenous rights to govern their lands and data, and coordinated a two-day conference bringing Tribal and agency partners together to advance Tribal sovereignty in public lands governance.
Outcome
The first Guidance Framework for Tribal Collaboration for Colorado's Outdoor Strategy, alongside three masterclasses on Indigenous data sovereignty presented to over 400 attendees at the 2026 US Indigenous Data Sovereignty summit.
ServicesFramework design · Tribal collaboration · Indigenous data governance · Visual storytelling · Conference coordination
Charity & Security Network
Civil Society Rights & Resiliency Project
Washington, DC · National Scope
A six-month program management and strategy consultancy building the strategic architecture U.S. civil society needed to endure the 119th Congress and the weaponization of national security law against nonprofits. Drew on deep working knowledge of IRS regulations, Treasury and State Department terrorism designations, and the legal landscape confronting human rights and peacebuilding organizations.
Outcome
Comprehensive gap analysis, full strategic plan, sequenced decision-making framework, risk mitigation strategy, personnel and resource allocation plan, and partner and donor outreach templates delivered to C&SN leadership protecting 200+ member organizations.
ServicesStrategic plan development · Gap and objectives analysis · Decision-making framework design · Risk identification and mitigation · Leadership briefing
4Culture
Cultural Arts Capacity Building Practice
King County, WA
Capacity building and technical assistance for small, community-based, BIPOC-led cultural arts, heritage and preservation organizations across King County. The work centers asset mapping, stakeholder resourcing analysis, fundraising and grant writing in service of self-determined narrative shifts and durable organizational power.
Outcome
More than 20 applicants supported on the 4Culture panel in 2025, of whom eleven were awarded three-year capacity building grants at $75,000 per year. Friends of Georgetown History, a BIPOC women-led organization in Seattle's Duwamish Valley, acquired two new grants after a redefined fundraising strategy.
ServicesStrategic planning · Asset mapping · Fundraising and development · Organizational design · Coaching and mentoring
Washington OSPI
21st Century Community Learning Centers Peer Review
Washington State
Federal statute requires states to award 21st CCLC out-of-school-time funding through rigorous peer review by people with real expertise and no application of their own in play. Dr. Lemons served as one of eleven peer reviewers for Cohort 20, scoring against a 59-element rubric spanning need, project design, management, evaluation and promise as a model.
Outcome
12 applications scored across four rounds from a field of 45, with written evidence recorded for every element, and participation in six consensus teams reconciling scores before submission to OSPI.
ServicesGrant review · Program evaluation · Rubric scoring · Consensus facilitation · Bias mitigation
City of Chicago · New Arrivals Mission
Migrant Needs Analysis & Service Design
Chicago, IL
Directing the data branch for the City of Chicago's New Arrivals Mission for migrants, Azimu Group analyzed survey and focus group data to assess the needs of newly arrived asylum seekers facing barriers to employment, housing stability and social services. Regression modeling and clustering identified the critical service gaps: bilingual workforce training, digital literacy support and expedited housing placement. Those insights shaped an integrated program combining vocational training, ESL instruction and case-managed housing support.
Outcome
A 40% increase in successful job placements and improved long-term housing stability for migrant families, supported by data systems built across Excel, Smartsheet, Salesforce and Power BI and retained for continuity.
ServicesQuantitative analysis · Business intelligence · Data systems design · Needs assessment · Program design
Gates Foundation · via Education First
State Math Education Landscape Scan
California, Florida, New York & Texas
Before the foundation could invest in math instruction for Black, Latino and low-income students, program officers needed an honest picture of the ground. Azimu Group joined a four-state environmental scan as lead writer for Texas and editor for Florida, synthesizing grantee research into a due diligence narrative across ten topic areas.
Outcome
Every research question audited against the data actually collected and marked yes, no or partial rather than written around. The scan documented what Texas does not measure: no data on students' experiences in math classrooms, none on math identity and mindset.
ServicesResearch · Qualitative data analysis · Deliverable architecture · Strategic planning
Seattle OED · via Kinetic West
Future of Seattle's Economy
Seattle, WA
Seattle City Council asked the Office of Economic Development to chart the future of the city's economy. Azimu Group drafted the report's introduction, its background on Seattle's economy, and its methodology and framework, setting the analytical context for a synthesis of plans and priorities already written across business, labor, philanthropy and community.
Outcome
A frame capable of holding survey input from more than thirty partners, among them Greater Seattle Partners, the Urban League, Tabor 100, AfricaTown and El Centro De La Raza, and of handing five shared priorities to the working groups convened after it.
ServicesResearch · Strategic planning · Report architecture
Seattle Public Schools
Outdoor & Community Education Pilot
Seattle, WA
A voluntary outdoor learning pilot launched October 2020, drawing 24 applications from 19 schools in its first cycle. A Board Task Force convened in September and received formal approval in December to assess outdoor education as a permanent strand of district practice.
Outcome
Actionable recommendations for a sustainable district-wide outdoor program, grounded in qualitative data and community input.
ServicesProject management · Qualitative analysis · Community engagement · Program development · Facilitation
Youth Felony Diversion Programs
Youth Felony Diversion & Reintegration
Seattle, WA area
A felony charge tends to set one default in motion, and the conditions producing the charge go unaddressed. This program design gave a young person a path to complete their way out of a prison sentence: intake assessing each participant's Adverse Childhood Experiences score, then a three-generation intervention across housing, education and GED completion, behavioral health, mentoring, community volunteering, mental health and employment.
Outcome
Both programs earned evidence-based certification, the standing that let a judge accept the program in place of a sentence. Firm records report more than 400 years of imprisonment diverted.
ServicesProgram design · Intake and assessment design · Evidence-based certification facilitation · Clinical and housing staffing coordination
RISE · Racial Investment to Secure Equity
Renton Racial Reconciliation Plan
Renton, WA
RISE began as a community demand, the fourth of four put to the Renton City Council and Mayor in September 2020, weeks after the council adopted a resolution committing the city to a business plan against racism. Azimu Group was hired as consultant for the initial research phase and worked alongside Renton City Councilmember Kim-Khánh Văn. Asset mapping and listening sessions ran before a word of the proposal was written.
Outcome
A four-pillar community-informed proposal covering Black homeownership, education, healthy communities and entrepreneurship, paired with an implementation plan and accountability metrics for governance stakeholders, service providers and funders.
ServicesCommunity asset mapping · Community listening sessions · Program design · Research
Boyz N The Wood
Boyz N The Wood
Seattle, WA
A mentorship program using outdoor recreation, nature-based therapy and peer leadership to support Black men's mental health and emotional restoration. Hiking, kayaking, biking and conservation work as the conditions for restoration and connection.
Role
Sustained administrative and program specialist support. Continuity of operations through pandemic-era disruption.
ServicesAdministrative support · Outdoor recreation program specialist
Seattle Public Schools — Central Office
Anti-Racist Policies & Procedures
Seattle, WA
Designed and produced District Policy #0040 — co-designed with Black, Indigenous, Latino and other communities of color. Group and one-on-one sessions extracted thematic priorities and structural concerns that informed every draft.
Outcome
The nation's first anti-racist Superintendent Policy and Procedures, with strategies, indicators, management plan and evaluation framework.
ServicesProject management · Research · Organizational design · Community partnership
Foundation for Tacoma Students
Consortium Capacity Building
Tacoma, WA
A two-year initiative strengthening the Graduate Tacoma community-wide movement through the Community Partner Capacity and Capability workgroup. Organizational audits across consortium members anchored a structured workshop series.
Outcome
$2.5M Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation award. Organizational audits, workshop curriculum and a comprehensive resource guide for ongoing development.
ServicesProgram design · Research · Training and capacity building
Open Buffalo
Train the Trainer Series
Buffalo, NY
An Anti-Racist Organizational Audit training and 40+ slide curriculum examining racialized U.S. history, racialized capitalism and the documented connections between these systems and climate change. Workshops included a session on national reconciliation planning.
Outcome
Audit instrument, training curriculum and equity-focused performance management toolkits supporting anti-racist organizational practice.
ServicesProgram design · Research · Training and capacity building
State of Washington CPDA
Community Preservation & Development Authority
Central District & Historic South Downtown, Seattle
Four years of administrative, organizational development, grant management, economic development and COVID-era nonprofit and business relief support. The CPDA exists because Washington State acknowledged the debt of public-investment-driven displacement.
Outcome
Sustained support across all seven CPDA objectives — revitalization, impact mitigation, connection restoration, economic vitality and historic preservation.
ServicesAdministrative support · Organizational development · Grant management · COVID relief
Foundation for Tacoma Students
African American Male Educator Pipeline
Tacoma, WA
A two-pathway pipeline pilot — paraprofessional to certified teacher, and non-degreed to paraprofessional. Infrastructure audits across Tacoma Community College, FTS, Tacoma Public Schools and Evergreen College informed the program framework.
Outcome
Phased expansion strategy, citywide strategic plan, and a fund development strategy for long-term sustainability of the pipeline.
ServicesProgram design · Research · Community engagement
Pacific Lutheran University
Multicultural Outreach & Engagement
Tacoma, WA
A student's sense of belonging shapes whether they matriculate, achieve and finish. Azimu Group advised the center's leadership on a white paper and proposal for expansion and funding, building the case on the published research rather than on conviction, and documenting the differentiated approach that students' intersecting identities require.
Outcome
An expansion case tied to retention and completion rather than goodwill, covering the center's four functions and its mentoring, step cohort and multicultural recruitment programs.
ServicesResearch · Program design · Fund development
All Home
Point-in-Time Count
Seattle & King County, WA
The annual HUD-required census of people experiencing homelessness — getting it right is a policy decision with human consequences. The work centered populations most likely to be undercounted: encampments, vehicles, doubled-up housing, mental health crises.
Outcome
CBO relationships, 20+ convening stations secured, corporate in-kind donations and a community feedback loop for future counts.
ServicesProject management · Volunteer management · Research · Community relations
UW Physicians
Process Improvement Dashboard
Seattle, WA
A visualized dashboard tracking work activities across departments, each linked explicitly to a strategic objective. Iterative design with leadership and management; staff trained to maintain it after engagement close.
Outcome
Cross-departmental visibility, value-added evaluation across all initiatives, and a living institutional tool that outlasted the engagement.
ServicesStrategic planning · Facilitation · Data analysis · Staff training
Capital IDEA
Career Your Way
Houston, TX
Workforce development for NEET Opportunity Youth in partnership with Houston Community College, Bridge Year, the Harris County Department of Education and Fast Forward Analytics. A program built to hold both the technical requirements and the human ones.
Outcome
Project management tools across three delivery phases. Culturally informed mentorship and trauma-response training guide. Integration plans for institutional partners.
ServicesProgram design · Project management · Implementation · Consortium building
