About Joanna

I am Dr. Joanna Shoffner Scott, a seasoned organizational development consultant with a racial equity focus. I help nonprofits, philanthropies, and private businesses create equitable organizations that work for everyone.

I have consulted with more than 60 organizations in the public and private sectors, including those involved in workforce development, research, public policy, social services, place-based community sector collaboratives, government agencies, and philanthropies. Formerly of the Race Matters Institute, I am the founder and Principal Consultant at the Stamey Street Consulting Group.

I am a mom and a child advocate at heart.


Before becoming a consultant, I was the Vice President of Government Affairs and Equity Programs for Voices for America’s Children. My background in public policy includes budget and tax, health, and nutrition. My doctoral work focused on health policy and how social determinants of health people influence how people navigate the healthcare system. I hold a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

I help my clients understand how race and racism are embedded in public systems and what those realities mean for their organization’s everyday work.

“A commitment to racial equity is not enough. No matter where an organization is in its racial equity journey, moving from one phase to another takes intention, planning, and action.”


Every day offers an opportunity for organizations to make different choices. This is why I love sunrises so much. Each sunrise gives us a new day to work more justly and more equitably.

About Stamey Street Consulting Group

My consulting firm, Stamey Street Consulting Group, offers consulting services to nonprofits, philanthropies, and businesses who want to move to the next phase of their racial equity journey. I help nonprofits, philanthropies, and businesses build racially equitable organizations that live into their stated mission and purpose. 

The mission of the Stamey Street Consulting Group is to provide consulting services that result in stronger, more racially just organizations. 

I have worked with many organizations that struggle with race/racism.  Almost all also struggle with bigger organizational development issues. 


Why work with me

I am a seasoned organizational development consultant with a racial equity focus. I believe that talking about racism is not enough to move your organization to the next stage in your racial equity journey. It’s been my experience that each racial equity growth stage has its own needs, which are not linear. In my practice, I see four phases:

  • Phase 1: The Beginning - Maybe you’ve started with a project funded by a grant. Perhaps your organization has created spaces for shared learning, mostly lunch and learns, or with company employee resource groups (ERGS). Your organization has gone as far as it can be supported by internal resources alone.

  • Phase 2: Digging In - Your organization has just hired a consultant. Others inside your organization are skeptical, particularly staff who have been with the organization longer. You are working on a shared language. External change is mainly focused on word choice and messaging.

  • Phase 3: When Do We Get There? - Your organization has developed an analytic framework with a racial perspective. You have developed an internal language. External communications have shifted. Your expressed commitment to equity is clear. You have reached a bend in the road. It’s time to take a deeper look at internal practices.

  • Phase 4: Advanced - Your organization has reviewed its policies and practices and adjusted and acted by using them equitably. Organizational leaders do their own work to build their knowledge base, emphasizing leading equitably. Internal racial equity commitments show up in the way the organization interfaces with the community and with partners.


Nonprofits, philanthropies, and businesses who hire me want to move to the next phase of their racial equity journey. Often, they need help getting moving forward from someone with experience who understands how to navigate the complexity of organizational dynamics.


To be sustainable, equity must become a mission-centered priority backed up by shifts in policies, practices, and protocols.

My firm’s approach is intersectional, and our strategies always center on racial equity.

“Organizations are not race neutral.”

— Victor Ray, Why So Many Organizations Stay White