ABOUT
DEEP Consultants
DEEP Consultants is a consultancy led by a minority woman that places the principles of racial justice, transformative accountability, and gender equity at the center of all their work. They bring a multi-layered and relational approach to their work by understanding how the experience of inequity shifts and changes at various intersections of identity.
Using a racial equity lens, we work with organizations around Diversity & Equity initiatives, program evaluation services, and strategic planning. We help organizations advance community-driven solutions for social change.
Our mission is to advance community-driven solutions for social change.
Our Core Values:
Cultivating trust, encouraging open dialogue, and providing ample opportunities to articulate differing viewpoints are essential elements of our approach. We believe that the most effective way to build knowledge is to foster collaboration among a diverse array of perspectives. With our comprehensive understanding of the various aspects of initiatives and projects, we strive to work in harmony with our clients to strategize the most beneficial way forward.
Equity, in our definition, is the recognition of the pivotal role perspectives play in learning. This encompasses our understanding of how societal contexts, histories, and structures influence our partners. In essence, mindfulness of these factors allows us to appreciate the nuances of diverse viewpoints and engage in more equitable collaborations.
COLLABORATION
We learn better when we share mental models by co-designing collaborative processes for learning and action.
STRATEGIC THINKING
We are thoughtful about
the strategic impact of
our work in both the
short and long term.
EQUITY
We align ourselves with like-minded partners working toward educational, health, economic, social, and racial equity.
DILIGENCE
We strive for precision,
clarity, and thoroughness.
When we fall short we learn
and continue to grow.
Our Services:
Program Design and Evaluation
We work with government agencies, non-profit organizations, healthcare providers, academic institutions, funders, and others to co-create, implement, and evaluate public health strategies that create thriving communities.
Program Design
Our partners succeed by managing programs and projects that address the specific needs of their local communities. While our clients are very much subject matter experts, we often collaborate using evidence-based practices to develop:
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Action plans- What are the specific activities? What is the timeline?
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Strategic plan- What is the long-term goal for the program? Where do you want to be in 3-5 years?
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Logic Models- what are the objectives and outcomes?
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Activity Tracking- How can we set up systems for monitoring progress?
Evaluation
How has your program improved the quality of life of your stakeholders? How do your community residents respond to your programs? Our team uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to evaluate the impact of programs in local communities and on a national level.
We provide the following services:
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Evaluation Design and Instrument Development
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Participant Recruitment
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Data Collection: Surveys, Interviews, Focus Groups, Observation
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Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
Technical Assistance for Data Collection -
Dissemination of Findings for Practice and Public Policy
Debiasing Organizations
Studies from Harvard Business Review, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, and Clear Company show diversity strongly correlates with organizational performance. These studies show that organizations with race or ethnic diversity are 36% more profitable than their peers. Diversity is not just a good thing to do; it has a strong business case.
While Implicit Bias training is a significant first step, there is little evidence to suggest that this training alone leads to sustained changes in behavior. To increase diversity in their organization and create an inclusive culture, employers must do the hard work of de-biasing the workplace system. At DEEP Consultants, we provide various tools to help organizations on this journey.
Organizational Assessment: Using tools such as employee surveys, and policy assessments. We evaluate the organization from an equity perspective and provide customized policy recommendations that acknowledge and respond to differences and disrupt workplace systems' bias.
Equity Audits: A comprehensive benchmarking tool that can be used to assess equity and inclusion broadly within an organization. The audit helps our clients identify, uproot, and transform organizational and systemic gaps inhibiting their equity at work.
Systems Analysis and Root Cause Diagnosis: A systems analysis helps us look at problems holistically by considering the context and compounding dynamics to uncover root causes and possible solutions. Our team will work with a Systems Analysis Workgroup (6-10 individuals) comprised of a cross-sector, diverse group of stakeholders to conduct the Systems Analysis.
DEEP Consultants provides support to organizations as they progress through the three stages along the continuum of DEI, which are:
ASSESSMENT
Where are
we now?
During the assessment stage, we assist organizations in evaluating their current diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) status.
This involves analyzing existing policies, practices, and culture to identify both their strengths and areas requiring improvement. Through this evaluation, we help clients gain a clear understanding of their standing, which informs a roadmap for progress.
DEVELOPMENT
Where do we
need to go?
Once the assessment stage is completed, we support organizations in identifying their DEI goals and developing a roadmap to achieve them.
Collaborating closely with our clients, we help them set clear and meaningful objectives, and identify the policies and practices that need to be revised or created to support equity and inclusion.
IMPLEMENTATION
How do we get there and continue to grow?
After organizations have completed the development stage, we assist them in implementing their DEI plan.
We collaborate with them to design and execute training programs for their staff, create policies and procedures that foster equity and inclusion, and establish metrics to monitor progress and ensure continual growth.
Our aim is to assist organizations in integrating DEI values into their everyday activities and accomplishing long-term, sustainable change.
MEET DEEPIKA
Dr. Deepika Andavarapu
Dr. Deepika Andavarapu is the Founder and CEO of DEEP Consultants, an urban planning scholar, community researcher, and evaluator working with various organizations to design long-term solutions with an emphasis on results and measuring impact. With over sixteen years of experience in social justice issues, Dr. Andavarapu is a strategic systems thinker who brings academic rigor and expertise to the nonprofit world.
As a researcher, she has produced trailblazing scholarship related to social capital's role in the resilience of disenfranchised communities such as slums. Dr. Andavarapu is a published author, public speaker, and presented her research at a TEDx conference. She designed and implemented rigorous impact evaluations that meet the guidelines of federal and state grants such as CNCS, HRSA, etc.
Dr. Andavarapu is an intersectional scholarly practitioner who has received the Rising Star award by Cincinnati's YWCA in 2018 and went through rigorous leadership and DEI training. She has held many local and national leadership positions, including being the first DEI committee chair for Impact 100 Cincinnati. Under her leadership, the organization's diversity more than doubled, and they developed the first-ever DEI strategic plan for the 20-year-old organization.
Dr. Andavarapu also conducted landscape assessments that included issue mapping, policy mapping, data mapping, and stakeholder interviews to assess the state of knowledge around a topic. In 2020, the 400+ members of Impact 100 Cincinnati voted DEI as the top priority for the organization, and in 2021, Dr. Andavarapu co-designed and facilitated the first-ever conversations around DEI with six collective giving organizations across the country under Philanos Leadership. Today, the organization is working towards incorporating an equity lens into its grant-making process.
OUR FACILITATORS
