Iona Concepts, Inc.

Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services Maurissa Stone

Social Entrepreneur Change Strategist Thought Leader

Maurissa Stone, Principal Iona Concepts, Inc. DUNS #008149002 Hack Hub, 703 N. Fremont Ave Baltimore, Maryland 21217 Phone: (240) 988-4662 Email: Maurissa@ionaconcepts.com

Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

About

She has direct experience with the culture dynamics of community development organizations and a past history of the internal operating norms within operating norms within community development institutions, funders, organizations, and small/large non-profit agencies.

Founded in 1995, Iona Concepts, Inc., a Training and change management consulting organization, is the umbrella for The Living Well Center for Social and Economic Vibrancy. Iona Concepts’ mission is to facilitate planned change in systems, organizations, and communities. Through Iona Concepts, Inc., the following change management services are provided: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Past and Current Clients • Affordable Housing Alliance

Community Development/Organizing Creative Placemaking Curriculum Development Organizational Cultural Assessments Organizational Development Nonprofit Management Consulting Public/Private Partnership Cultivation Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Social Innovation Social Media Marketing Strategy Development Technical Assistance Training and Change Management Trauma-Informed/Responsive Care

• Associated Black Charities • Anne Arundel County Government • City of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Department of Health and Human Services • Fight Blight Bmore • Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation Acceleration Program • Maryland Commission on Civil Rights • Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program • National Association of State Mental Health Programs

Ms. Maurissa Stone has worked as a change strategist, management consultant, and community development professional since 1992. Through Iona Concepts, Inc., she directs The Living Well Center for Social and Economic Vibrancy. This collective of social change makers, healing practitioners, cultural anthropologist and thought leaders are devoted to soulful expression, conscious expansion and optimal wellness.

• National Center for Trauma-Informed Care & Alternative to Seclusion and Restraint • NeighborWorks® America • Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) • New England Community Services • St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center • Theory of Place Design

Ms. Stone spent 18 years working in a leadership capacity within the university system, including 14 years at University of Maryland at College Park and 8 years at the University of Baltimore.

She worked for NeighborWorks® America for 7 years as an affiliations, partnership, and growth management consultant with a specialty in organizational development and training.

• University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Iona Concepts, Inc. Consulting Partners Gina Merritt is an experienced development and investment manager. She has been involved in over 7,500 units of housing in various stages of development; managing the entitlement process, structuring and securing the required financing, managing the design, and the overall project construction process.

Nneka Nnamdi is the Director of Community Wellness at The Living Well Center and is a Community Development Social Health Innovator.

Ms. Nnamdi founded Fight Blight Bmore an economic, environmental, and social justice initiative led by the community and informed by data to address the issue of blight. Ms. Nnamdi is a recipient of numerous awards, fellowships and grants to include:

Ms. Merritt also recently trademarked Project Community Capital® (PCC) which includes a legally protected software product. PCC is social capital platform that bridges small businesses and local community residents with job opportunities. PCC assists public agencies, private developers and contractors in meeting their socio-economic goals by maximizing the most valuable asset we have — Community Capital.

• Baltimore Hummingbirds Grant • Baltimore City Intergenerational Initiatives for Trauma and Youth • Baltimore Children and Youth Fund Grant • Warnock Social Innovation Fellow • Baltimore Women in Tech (BWiT) Micro Grant • Kaiser Permanente Incubator without Walls • Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab 2018–19 Cohort (Winner) • Baltimore Corps Elevation Award • Associated Black Charities Women on the Move Award • Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation Challenge—JUICE Accelerator • AccelerateBaltimore™ (AB) 2020 cohort

Ms. Merritt earned her BBA from Howard University and her MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Ms. Merritt is currently studying for her Doctorate in Social Innovation at the University of Southern California.

Ms. Merritt’s recent industry recognitions include Built by Women — two site award winner for North Capitol Commons and The Nannie Helen at 4800, Developer of the Year—2017 by DC NOMA and 2018 Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award Honoree.

In addition to her innovative work addressing Blight in Baltimore City, Ms. Nnamdi is a systems engineer and will add value in identifying opportunities and challenges with enhancing NWO’s technical operating systems and provide insight on opportunities for program innovation and neighborhood revitalization.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

André Robinson is a community and cultural organizer, real estate developer, trainer, facilitator, activist and consultant. He has a extensive background as a creative place-maker, and ran his own production company for many years, producing a wide variety of conferences, summits, musical tours and other speaking events. He has been working in community, talent, and cultural development, racial equity training, board and organizational capacity and civic engagement for more than 40 years. While in Greensboro, North Carolina, on a police accountability project with the Beloved Community Center, André came under the sway of the Racial Equity Institute, one of the foremost organizations in the country training in diversity and inclusion.

Janelle Williams Hughes is a writer, interior designer, and lover of all things that illustrate the ingenuity of her fellow human beings. She is the co-owner of KJ Design and Mortar Styling LLC, a home staging and interior design firm based in Baltimore, Maryland. Her interior design work has been featured in publications including Apartment Therapy and she was recently selected to serve on the House Beautiful Advisory Council. In 2020, she started the #shareblackspaces campaign and initiative to promote the variety of designers of color that exist across the globe. During the day, she works as Deputy Project Director for a technical assistance center serving schools and colleges across the country. At night, she creates design schemes and writes poems and parts of her novel until her eyes bleed. In the morning, she feels like she should regret it, but she doesn’t and the creative cycle continues.

Although he continues to work nationally, his home base of Baltimore, Maryland, serves as a platform for neighborhood his focus on building networks of revitalization. That work was enhanced through current and recent initiatives such as the Social Determinants of Heath Task Force for the State of Maryland. He serves on the board of the Innovative Housing Institute, Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake, and Westport Economic Community Development Corporation.

He is co-founder of Baltimore Community Prosperity, LLC with Dr. Allen Y. Tien, and also continues to serve as Executive Producer for BeMoreOpen Media, and Carbon Fibre Media.

Ms. Hughes’ writing has appeared in internationally known publications including Reader’s Digest, Black Enterprise, Shop Smart/ Consumer’s Report, Heart & Soul, and Harvard University’s Transition Magazine online. Her skills have supported various federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Administration for Children and Families, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Education Centers, Offices, and programs; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and U.S. Department of Transportation.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Dr. Geri Lynn Peak has practiced evaluation 33 years and facilitation for 45 years. She founded Two Gems Consulting Services in 1997 to strengthen programs and support social innovation. She brings a culturally responsive and equitable lens, evaluating efforts in the spirit of service, promoting wellbeing and maximizing community potential to transform society for the betterment of all people. Her Insight Facilitation approaches promote true understanding: identifying authentically meaningful questions; “listening” to stakeholders wisdom and needs; applying diverse, customized methods; gathering and mining information with openness and detachment; and presenting findings in accessible forms, trusting in and helping stakeholders invoke their own insights to continually improve their efforts. Her primary interests are community/ societal change, healing racism, multiculturalism, youth development, reproductive health and rights and engaging community, particularly youth, in the learning/action/reflection process, leveraging the Virtues Project™ as a restorative and affirmative data gathering and meaning making support.

Ako Changa Onyango, a senior facilitator and owner of AO Services is a proud husband, father of 6, and a lifelong son of Baltimore. He finds inspiration in helping organizations and individuals navigate interference and have difficult conversations. He is a state-trained mediator, a facilitator for organizational change, and a moderator of difficult conversations.

He works with a team of talented colleagues and fellow consultants who have helped to shape the Diversity Equity and Inclusion landscape in Maryland. With a deep connection to the Baltimore grassroots community, he has served as a consultant, executive director, board member, and president for various marquee organizations. The work has resulted in smooth leadership transitions, de-escalation of crippling conflict and effective language development for our clients.

Kenya Ray is a Baltimore native bringing her comprehensive Human Resources experience to the Living Well Center to onboard partnerships, conduct coaching, and craft policies and procedures.

With a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Communications from Notre Dame of Maryland University, Kenya enjoys public speaking and has a knack for conducting intricate conversations. She has an eagerness to help people; personally and professionally. Her volunteerism includes providing services to less fortunate community members and conducting youth skills development in areas such as resume creation and interviewing. She adores leading ice breakers, team building activities and party games. When she isn’t yelling from the stands at a sporting event, she is reppin’ her hood with her fellow #BaltimoreGirls in front of a camera and throughout the City’s arts community.

A fiber-artist, jewelry designer, poet, dancer, drummer and avid organic vegetable gardener, this native of Los Angeles resides in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. with her delightful husband, two mysterious cats, many inscrutable computing devices and lots of clutter. Her insightful twin daughters, the O.G. Two Gems, have been run home by Ms. Cora Rona and are finding ways to be useful while maintaining respect to the virus, even if many others are not taking her seriously.

Kenya is thankful for her training in West African dance under Baltimore based Sankofa Dance Theater. Not only did her training birth her love of African dance, it also forged relationships that have since blossomed into her extensive extended family.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Trusted Advisor and More Than a Consultant Maurissa Stone is a social entrepreneur and community and organizational development expert who serves as Director of Social Innovation at The Living Well Center for Social and Economic Vibrancy (TLW). She is also the founder of Iona Concepts, Inc., a training and change management consultancy and the umbrella entity for TLW, which was created in 2009 to operate as a canopy for Social & Economic Vibrancy in Baltimore City, using creative space-making as a foundation. Through TLW, Ms. Stone has created a cooperative open-systems to address social determinants of health using a trauma-responsive and race equity framework. Local, national, and Federal entities utilize her expertise through Iona and TLW to provide training, consulting, coaching and thought leadership in a variety of key areas of social enterprise development and structural determinants of health.

The Living Well Center for Social and Economic Vibrancy (TLW) TLW is more than a space. Ms. Stone and the movement network of social change agents, artists, and thought partners share leadership to support initiatives that are devoted to Soulful Expression, Conscious Expansion and Optimal Wellness. Through TLW, she provides capacity support and space for individuals, organizations, and community stakeholders. TLW holds space for social entrepreneurs and creatives who are exchanging resources and capacity to build and incubate ideas and create economic transactions.

TLW is a hub of creative, innovative and social thought leaders who are undoing the status quo of power and policy.

The person-centered theory of space-making is one of the hallmarks of TLW’s model. Using an evidence-based design and theory of place perspective, TLW’s value is rooted in community.

Due to Covid-19, the TLW office moved to the Fight Blight Hack Hub and will continue programming virtually and hosting pop-ups in the region.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Leading Trauma-Responsive Care Efforts Through its #HealingInCommunity initiative, TLW has created partnerships with a variety of national agencies, including, but not limited to, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and its National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Restraint and Seclusion (NCTIC), and the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB).

Through these efforts, Ms. Stone leads her team in training community impact consultants, healing practitioners, educators, counselors, and other key stakeholders to create trauma-informed solutions for healing and systems change.

This includes a half-day training that engaged participants to define trauma and discuss its prevalence in society; explain the effect trauma has on the brain; discuss strategies to reduce the likelihood of re-traumatization; describe ways trauma affects people developmentally, psychologically and physiologically; and develop action steps to implement trauma-informed practices in their work. Ms. Stone has also served as a presenter and moderator at national events focused on mental health and trauma-responsive care, including the 2019 State of Mental Health in the Black Community Conference and Benefit Dinner held in Washington, DC.

TLW also served as a strategic partner for the B’more For Youth! Collaborative, which focused on Baltimore city’s plan to prevent violence affecting youth. In this capacity, Ms. Stone and her team used their expertise to build up the places and spaces where intergenerational connections exist; institutionalize trauma-informed and traumasensitive practices into child and family-services agencies, institutions and organizations; and serve as a community advocate for the implementation of trauma-informed and restorative justice practices and policies. She also helped the city develop community-level approaches to prevent and reduce incidences of traumatic stress, such as reclaiming and improving public spaces; enhancing social connections and networks; promoting healing circles and other traditional/indigenousbased community healing opportunities; building intergenerational connections and networks; and organizing and promoting regular positive community activity in spaces that are designed to heal.

Ms. Stone and TLW team are consulted by local Baltimore leaders and agencies to serve as key partners in support of trauma-responsive community development efforts and to support citywide strategic planning, creative placemaking, and other trauma-responsive initiatives. This includes the Baltimore Partnership for Family and Trauma-Informed Care and the Baltimore City Health Department’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention. She was a key member of the Breakthrough Series Collaborative, which focused on creating a trauma- and resilience-informed city for children and families.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Serving Underserved Communities and Populations Ms. Stone has a long history of supporting public and private agencies whose missions are to heal, serve, and ensure equity. Her background in community development and trauma-responsive care began early in her career, when she was employed as a case manager at the Potomac Job Corps Center in Washington, DC, and as a group home transitional housing counselor for people with cognitive disabilities with the Rock Creek Foundation. In 1985, her position of Job Developer for people with significant disabilities was the catalyst for authoring and facilitating capacity-building training for disability service organizations. Later, she became a consultant trainer on accessibility compliance for the American’s with Disabilities Act of 1990. Her design of competency based organizational training were implemented within several disability service organizations in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia region and won the attention of the former University of Maryland’s Center for Human Services Development (CHSD), which was a Federally funded Research and Training Center focused on capacity building support for State, Federal, local government rehabilitation disability service organizations.

Ensuing Equity, Diversity & Inclusion During her 9.5 years at CHSD, Ms. Stone facilitated senior-level meetings and strategic planning processes with the District of Columbia Department of Human Services, local rehabilitation service providers and counseling students. Her ability to communicate effectively using a strategic lens with a focus on issues of race and equity grew her base of ICI consulting clients. Her direct involvement in conducting research and focus groups on the silent epidemic of kinship care providers, also known as grandparents raising grandchildren, under the direction of Dr. Nancy K. Schlossburg was a pivotal skill that resulted in many articles and studies, such as the 1996 Journal of Counseling and Development White Paper titled, Kinship Care Providers. Her work in race and equity has continued through consulting services provided via Iona and through innovation labs, social justice forums, and other public-facing events and initiatives hosted by TLW in collaboration with community change agents. She was a key consultant in recruiting and mentoring grass roots thought leaders for the Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation Hack a Thon and Acceleration Program leaders to pitch their technology driven ideas to social impact investors.

In 1992, Ms. Stone was recruited to work as a Project Coordinator for a Federal and State Systems Change grant at the CHSD. Her primary role was to provide cultural competency training, strategic planning and marketing support to government and private sector agencies, with the ultimate goal to expand the work opportunities for people with disabilities and persons who were under employed. A mission to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusivity in private and public spaces was the common thread that connected these projects, and that has continually propelled her work in social determinants of health.

Enhancing Organizational and Community Development In 2001, Ms. Stone transitioned her organizational capacity building, leadership development and marketing expertise to work as a management consultant for NeighborWorks® America, a congressionally sponsored community development intermediary that funds both rural and urban communities. During her 7 years at NeighborWorks® America, she worked directly with large oversight boards and senior leadership within affordable housing industry. She provided management coaching, technical assistance and underwriting oversight to senior leaders

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Education & Training The historic Lincoln University, noted as the first college to be chartered to educate people of African descent, waived Ms. Stone’s bachelor’s degree in lieu of her portfolio and leadership in the field of human services and she was enrolled into the Master of Human Service’s (MHS) applied research program. She completed the MHS program in 1992 with a change project/thesis entitled Achieving Cultural Competency in Person Centered Planning. Ms. Stone has a history of leadership development training, completing advanced certification training with the Center for Creative Leadership, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism, the Association of Talent Development, National Center for Trauma Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint, and NeighborWorks America National Training Institute.

and board members. In addition to her role as a management consultant, she provided master level training for the National Training Institute and facilitated the opening session and an interactive cultural competency session for the Community Leadership Institute.

In 2008, Ms. Stone returned to the University of Maryland at College Park in a new role as Director of Faculty and Staff Training for University Human Resources. She was responsible for subject matter training, oversite of professional trainings for campus departments, and hiring of thirdparty training consultants. Most notable was her retooling, marketing, and facilitation of the University’s Leadership Development Institute, a 12-week certificate training program designed to prepare mid-level managers for senior leadership positions on campus.

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

Trainings, Presentations, and Media (2011–2020)

10/2020

NeighborWorks® America An overview of an Organizational Culture Assessment using a REDI Lens Presenter/Consultant

10/2020

Master of Arts Cultural Sustainability, Goucher College Presenter

10/2020

Maryland Institute of College Arts - Freelance Friday Presenter

7/2020

Implementing the Principles of a Trauma Responsive Service System Webinar Series Presenter: History of Race Trauma and Underreporting of Victims of Violent Crimes

8/2019

University of Baltimore Schaefer Center for Public Policy, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights and the Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program.

Presenter: “Picture This” and organizational development S.W.O.T. & Power Analysis using a race, equity & inclusion framework.

7/2019

Baltimore City Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement Panelist: Can We Talk — Women in business

6/2019

Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation: Can we Talk Moderator: Coping Outside of the Box - Alternative Healing Practices

6/2019

Center for Law and Social Policy Breaking Barriers Building Community Presenter: Healing Technologies Pathways to Healing Community

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

5/2019 – 10/2019

Victim Advocate: Jefferson County West Virginia Prosecutors Office

5/2019

Afro News Baltimore Edition The Healing Power of The Living Well

3/2019

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle: Ella Baker Edition Panelist: Navigating Politics as a Millennial Woman

1/2019

Maryland Institute College of Arts: Micapreneurship Presenter: Business Matters: Your Body, Your Practice

1/2019

Fashion Umbrella Foundation Impact Award

3/2018

Graduate Research Interdisciplinary & Network Development (G.R.I.N.D.) 2nd Annual Conference: Morgan State University Graduate Student Association Presenter: Intersection of Academic Impact & Social Engagement

7/2018

Baltimore City office of the Mayor Morning Masters Speakers Series Morning Masters Brunch for Entrepreneurs hosted by Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and the Mayor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Panelist: Examining small business development through the lens of health equity and economic inclusion.

2018

2014–2017 2017 – Present

City of Elizabeth New Jersey, City Hall Office of the Business Administrator Organizational Development Consultant/Presenter: Cultural Competency & Team Building University of Baltimore College of Public Affairs Adjunct Professor: Human Services Management Fight Blight Bmore Consultant to Nneka Nnamdi, the founder, innovator, activist, software engineer, and technoactivist Fight Blight Bmore is an economic, environmental, and social justice initiative led by the community and informed by data to address the issue of blight.

2017

Communities Addressing Trauma and Community Strife Through Trauma-Informed Approaches Webinar Series, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Presenter: Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach to Healing Communities

2017

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Women Arts & Social Change Curator/Panelist: El Tenderio Clothes Line Project / Fresh Talk

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

1–3/2017

5/2017

Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation AccĂŠlĂŠration Program Consultant: Provided oversite for a nine-week acceleration program designed for the winner so the Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation Hack-a-Thon. Reviewed the use and application of tech acceleration curricula from a race, equity & inclusion framework. Coached/mentor team members to develop logic models and resourced community-based support to include funding and thought capital. Identified subject matter consultants to provide content and data regarding topics such as intellectual property, pitch preparation and marketing/branding strategies.

City of Elizabeth New Jersey, Department of Health & Human Services Presenter/Consultant: Cultural Competency & Public Health

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Iona Concepts, Inc. Race, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consulting Services

1/2017

Pod Cast The Marc Steiner Show Panelist: Anti-Black Racism Round Table: Trauma and Mental Health

9/2016

Kaiser Permanente Social Innovation Hack-a-Thon Consultant: This two-day event brought together developers, activists, idea generators and designers to find solutions to some of Baltimore’s most complex issues. Participants tackled a range of issues, including education and workforce development, access to health care and mental health.

2016–Present

4/2016 5/2016 – Present 9/2015

National Association of State Mental Health Programs (NASMHP), National Center for Trauma-Informed Care & Alternative to Seclusion and Restraint (NCIC), Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Consultant: Provides training & technical assistance for community based, state agencies and federal government providers. Topics such as healing trauma from historic racism, medical, physical & mental events. Provide race, equity & inclusion framework to community and systems addressing trauma.

Good News Baltimore Live Panelist: Place Matters Vacancy, Access & Equitable Development People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond: Undoing Racism Cohort/Host, Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Committee Black Entrepreneurs make Community Health a Priority article Atlanta Black Star

2015

Baltimore #Uprising The Living Well Center for Social & Economic Vibrancy Convener: Race Matters: Community Listening Circle

2015

Equity Matters & The Living Well presents Conflict Transformation using Participatory Theater Convener/Presenter

8/2014 2013 8/2011

Black Women’s Agenda & AARP Because We Care Presenter: Self Care for the Care Giver The Evolution Of Perspective Blog Talk Radio Panelist – Fitness, Feminism Holistic Health, Healing & Hip Hop Baltimore Sun - Living Well’s Community Meeting Draws a Crowd

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Maurissa Stone, Principal Iona Concepts, Inc. DUNS #008149002 Phone: 410.212.5953 maurissa@livewellbemore.com www.livewellbemore.com livewellbemore1 livewellbemore maurissa-stone-bass-592b039