Consulting

“Melissa's expertise on both racial equity and organizational development seem to be a rarity. More consultants are trying to offer both kinds of support in complementary ways, but more often than not, I've found consultants that can more go deeply in one area than the other. Melissa offers the best of both.” 

“Melissa brought deep understanding of our organization and our field into her engagement with us. She delivered outstanding results on the timeline promised. Highly recommend!”

"Melissa is a strategic, visionary consultant with exceptional people skills. She helped our board and staff wrestle through tough conversations around racial justice, power, and control. Her expert facilitation, coupled with her caring and astute assessments of where board members were and what processes could promote growth, were integral to helping us move together through tough decisions and land in a place that was ultimately most in alignment with our values. Her expertise shone through in her approach, which showed in her ability to quickly build strong and respectful relationships with staff and create openings for honesty and vulnerability. She always showed up as a real person, relateable, kind, yet set us on the path for transformative conversations. We love her and look forward to finding other opportunities to partner."

"Melissa brings warmth, emotional intelligence, and thoughtfulness to her work. I looked forward to our board’s sessions with Melissa as I knew there would be a robust agenda, rich facilitated discussions, and ample space to engage with one another in meaningful ways. While Melissa has a clear sense of direction and seamlessly ushers the conversation forward to help individuals and groups achieve their goals, she is incredibly flexible and is able to mold and sculpt along the way as needed, including, in our board’s case, pivoting to an all-virtual format during the tumultuous early days of the pandemic. It was masterful to behold. I look forward to future opportunities to partner."

"Melissa Hewitt is what you hope that every consultant will be—she is professional, responsive, knowledgeable, and works with your staff and culture as if she was (and always had been) a part of your team. Melissa comes with a wonderful combination of passion and expertise. She is a joy to work with—and I look forward to finding more opportunities to work together."

"We partnered with Forward Movement Consulting because we wanted to develop our strategic plan, but this partnership gave us so much more than just that deliverable we had envisioned. Expertly guiding us through this pivotal inflection point for our young organization, Melissa’s commitment to our individual and organizational growth was unwavering and inspiring. This encouraged a process built on trust, respect, and transparency—all of which were vital building blocks for the urgent, important work we have ahead. We are so grateful to Melissa for leading us through this meaningful process. Thanks to FMC, we are deeply unified around our shared vision, aligned on what we need to accomplish, and clear on how to get there."

"Melissa is an incredible facilitator and strategist. She worked diligently to ensure that we met our desired goals and that we had a clear roadmap for how to move the work forward. Her gentle, yet direct, approach was a perfect match for our projects and we benefited greatly from her invaluable expertise built from her years of experience across sectors and movements. She is truly a gift, and I know that she is committed to the success of each individual or group she works with."

"We were very fortunate to engage Melissa Hewitt to help us develop the first strategic plan for the National Coalition on School Diversity.  She guided us through the process of redefining our role in the field, establishing priorities for the next five years, and setting goals, all the while balancing the diverse needs and vision of the staff, steering committee, and our member organizations.  At the end of the day we had a strong consensus and a solid strategic plan, which has been guiding our work ever since.  We could not have pulled this off without Melissa!"