Michelle was a great help to me as our organization grew and thus I needed to grow. Her coaching prompted deep thinking and reflection on me as a leader and how I show up to my team. It was a great help that she knew our work so well and was able to draw from a deep repertoire of ideas, models and research. I really enjoyed my time working with her.

Michelle Shumate skillfully guided our board and organization as a whole through a much-needed strategic planning process. She helped keep us moving with timely deadlines, concise summaries, specific requests, insightful questions, and regular reporting back on progress. She also helped conduct focus groups in new geographies that helped us gain insight into where opportunities and needs for our work might arise. At the end of the day, with the help of her systematic approach, we came out with a clearer vision of what we are going to focus on in the next few years.

Dr. Shumate and her team are critical to collective impact or systems change processes that a community will undertake to address entrenched social problems. Her tested, data-driven community solutions and interventions aid leaders in addressing population level challenges that can change the landscape of communities while shifting the life trajectory of those impacted by such challenges. Shumate was instrumental in framing and establishing a sturdy foundation rooted in best practices and data for the United Palatine Coalition to thrive as they work towards changing education and material outcomes for youth. Additionally, Dr. Shumate’s strategic support of the Barack Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative allowed us to triple the number of interested stakeholders over the course of just three strategic meetings which sparked new collaborations between nonprofits and school system administrators.