Moving People and Organizations Towards Racial Equity
EverExcel is a national consulting company dedicated to addressing racial inequities in housing and education by generating critical changes in the practices, policies, and mindsets of institutions.
EverExcel Consulting, LLC
EverExcel is a national consulting firm dedicated to working with institutions and organizations across multiple sectors to improve outcomes for marginalized populations. With a focus on education, housing, and racial equity, our highly skilled team guides partners through several processes for complex systemic change. Among some of those processes are research and data analysis, equity, inclusion, diversity, and access (EIDA) assessments, anti-racism training, leadership and staff development, and strategic planning. We are deeply committed to ensuring that partners are successfully progressing towards their goals while working towards equity.
Mission & Guiding Principles
EverExcel strives to generate structural changes that promote racial equity and excellence for marginalized populations within and across institutions. Our mission is grounded in four guiding principles:
- Quality public education and housing are fundamental human rights.
- Institutions that are failing Black people are failing everyone.
- Communities hold valuable experiential knowledge and cultural wealth for informing policies and practices in institutions.
- At all levels policies, practices, and mindsets can and must change.
Consulting Services
Education. We employ a racial equity lens to support local education agencies, school districts, teachers and administrators, and community-based organizations on their journey toward providing access and improving outcomes for all students.
Housing. We use structural racism as a framework for understanding poverty and addressing homelessness and housing policies.
Racial Equity. We work alongside partners to implement practices and policies that promote the empowerment of marginalized communities meanwhile supporting individual organizational goals.
Services
Our consultants have provided trainings, workshops, and engaged in strategic planning with schools, school districts, non-profit organizations, and municipalities.
Education
Access to high quality education is a human right. We employ a racial equity lens to support local education agencies, school districts, teachers and administrators, and community-based organizations on their journey toward providing access and improving outcomes for all students. Some of our services include:
- Quantitative and Qualitative Research and data analysis on student achievement with a racial equity lens
- Racial Equity Needs Assessments & Strategic Planning at the school and district level
- Pedagogy & Practice Training for increasing school safety, meeting the needs of youth experiencing homelessness, and addressing race and equity in the classroom
- Human Centered Approaches to support students and families impacted by homelessness in schools
- Leveraging Multi-tiered Systems of Support to positively impact vulnerable student populations
Housing
Access to housing is a human right. We use structural racism as a framework for understanding poverty and addressing homelessness and housing policies. Some of our service include:
- Facilitated Discussions on the historical and sociological context for racial disparities in the United States and its implications for housing and homelessness policies
- Racial Equity Needs Assessments & Strategic Planning for homeless service delivery systems
- Racial Equity Toolkit Training and policy applications
Racial Equity
Racial equity is at the root of our work at EverExcel. We work alongside partners to implement practices and policies that promote the empowerment of marginalized communities meanwhile supporting individual organizational goals. Some of our services include:
- Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Access Training
- Racial Equity Needs Assessments & Strategic Planning
Featured Projects
EverExcel partnered with Los Angeles County to develop a homelessness prevention action plan based on predictive modeling research that can identify residents at high risk of becoming homeless. The new predictive model, developed by the California Policy Lab and the University of Chicago Poverty Lab, uses Los Angeles County data to predict those most likely to become homeless soon.
Funding for these innovative tactics will come from County departments and Measure H. A total of $3 million in Measure H funding has been earmarked to support initial implementation of these strategies. Read the report here.
Principal Consultants
EverExcel was established by two former educators and community advocates who sought to expand their pedagogical approaches beyond the classroom. Their professional backgrounds, personal experiences, and unique interdisciplinary trainings are complementary and effective.
Elianny C. Edwards, M.ED
Elianny C. Edwards (she/her)
Elianny is an educator, applied researcher, and scholar. She is a certified K-6 teacher with over ten years of experience teaching, mentoring, and directing out-of-school-time programming for youth from underserved communities across the country. Currently, Elianny C. Edwards is an instructional coach for first and second year public school teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District and an instructor of applied cognitive development in the Child and Adolescent Development Department at California State University, Northridge. Her research and scholarly interests include school safety at the intersections of race, class, and gender, the critical wellness and academic outcomes of Student of Color, and culturally relevant and sustaining teaching pedagogy. Elianny C. Edwards has led workshops on increasing school safety, addressing student trauma, and employing a racial equity lens within institutions. Her research has been featured in media outlets like the LA Times, NPR, EdWeek, and EdSource.
An Afro-Latina born and raised in New York City, Elianny is a first generation alumna who has committed her life to bridging research and practice to improve educational equity, access, and outcomes for Students of Color and low-income youth. Elianny is a doctoral student in the Human Development & Psychology division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She received a master’s degree in education from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology and child development from Tufts University.
Earl J. Edwards, M.ED
Earl J. Edwards (he/him)
Earl J. Edwards is an educator, researcher, and human rights advocate. His scholarship and advocacy focuses on understanding the impact of structural racism on public institutions in the United States and training organizations and municipalities to proactively create systems to address racial inequities. His work is particularly focused on educational systems and enterprises supporting people experiencing homelessness.
For the past 10 years, Earl has been supporting nonprofit organizations, schools, school districts, and municipality departments nationwide in building their capacity for addressing issues of racial equity. Drawing upon his experience as a former classroom teacher and district administrator, Earl designs meaningful professional development and ongoing workshops that help organizations develop, implement, and assess data-driven strategies for improving their practices.
Earl is a doctoral candidate in the Urban Schooling division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He received a master’s degree in education leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Boston College.
Selected Media
Featured Publication
The following are featured publications highlighting our consultants’ contributions to the work towards racial equity in schools and housing.
Los Angeles County Report on Black People Experiencing Homelessness
In 2018, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) conducted a study exploring the impact that structural racism played on Black people experiencing homelessness. This report provides their findings and their recommendations for addressing racial disparities impacting their Continuum of Care.
All Students Must Thrive: Transforming Schools to Combat Toxic Stressors and Cultivate Critical Wellness
All students deserve our best – and especially those who experience racial inequity, toxic stressors, cultural invalidation, homelessness, and other trauma. This book brings together three theoretical frameworks relevant for equity in schools – wellness, critical pedagogy, and critical race theory – providing a structure through which to apply the authors’ strategies and approaches.
Young, Black, successful, and homeless: examining the unique academic challenges of Black students who experienced homelessness
While the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is designed to provide educational access to students experiencing homelessness, the extent to which the policy supports Black students is unclear. This qualitative study uses structural racism as an analytic framework to examine the narratives of eight Black youth who successfully graduated high school while experiencing homelessness.
