Glitter & GritLight It Up!

And we start with a win. JJR just landed its first New Hampshire state contract. More on that below. You will see Equity show up in real work all through this issue. You will see it in how we plan a knowledge transfer interview. You will see it in a team taking our work to a national meeting in Chicago. You will see it in a community summit that just brought people together in Worcester. Equity is not just the topic of these stories. It is the lens we use to tell every one of them. Grab your coffee. Let us get into it.

Here is the idea that matters most. Equality means giving everyone the same thing. Equity means giving everyone what they need to do well. That small difference is a big deal. One can look fair on paper. The other actually leads to fair results.

A scholar named john a. powell explains this well. He calls his approach Targeted Universalism. Universal means it is for everyone. Targeted means we adjust the plan for different needs. Here is how it works. First, you set one goal that helps everyone. Then you build different paths to reach it. Each path matches where people start from and what stands in their way. powell calls this Equity 2.0. You move every group toward the same goal. You give extra support to the people who are farthest from it. And you remind everyone that we are all part of the same community.

This is also why Equity is not about lowering the bar. It raises the goal for everyone. Then it helps the people who are farthest away close the gap. Nobody wins when the goal is low. Everyone wins when the plan is smart.

Look at how Amy Branger, Rachel Vaz and the knowledge transfer team plan an interview. Knowledge transfer means capturing what a leader knows before they retire or move on. The goal is always the same. We want to save their knowledge, their relationships and the way they make decisions. Without that, all of it walks out the door when they leave. The goal stays the same. But the plan changes based on who is in the chair.

Same goal. Four different plans. That is Equity in action, not just a nice word. Want a helpful guide? Bookmark the Urban Institute Do No Harm Guide. It teaches people-first language, giving context before labels, and saying the limits of your data out loud.

Erica Briggs, Pamela VanDeursen, Isaac Garcia and everyone who carried this project, this win is yours.

Look at what their work protects. The team helps DPH through a major workplace change, the move from 250 Washington Street to 100 Cambridge Street. They handle change communications, town halls, cost tracking and space planning, using real data on how the buildings are actually used. A move sounds like simple logistics. But a workplace is also a question of access. Can every staff member still do their job during the change? Can they find their team and reach the tools they need? That is Equity in the spaces we build. The goal is a workplace that works for all. The plan pays close attention to the people a move affects most.

Now meet a second team with a second win. Our RVRS team, which supports the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, is on the national stage right now. As this issue goes out, Julie Warren and Jennifer Raymond, the RVRS Director and our client, are in Chicago for the NAPHSIS national conference, where they co-present on June 30. Jenna is there too, supporting the team and networking with the national vital records community. The conference opens June 29 and runs through July 1.

Vital records carry an important Equity story too. Think of a birth certificate, a death certificate or a marriage record. People need these papers to get almost anything: a job, a benefit, a place in school, healthcare, a home, even proof of who they are. And not everyone has them.

That is why building these systems so they are reliable and reachable for everyone is Equity at its most basic.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services chose JJR to lead training on preventing childhood lead poisoning. Here is the smart part. We are not building this from scratch. We are reusing JJR's current Massachusetts work on the same topic. That is JJR's own work paying off twice. And it is Equity-smart. More of the budget reaches the communities the work is meant to serve. Planning for the kickoff is underway.

The DPH coaching and training work for next year is moving from an idea toward a live test run. It uses an equity-centered matching system. That system pairs each person with a coach based on their goals and on the human things that make coaching work, like identity and life experience.

Our knowledge transfer team keeps earning quiet praise from the leaders they interview. Those leaders describe the JJR approach as prepared, respectful and built around their voice. Different projects, one thread: design that meets people where they are.

It is the same move whether we are choosing which bids to go after, matching a coach or planning a community event. Here is the move. Before you call a design finished, ask who it quietly leaves out. Then fix it before anyone has to ask.

What is the one barrier I could remove right now? That question is the whole practice.

That same habit is shaping how we run the business. We are moving away from chasing every bid. Instead, we are building services we can offer again and again. And we are focusing on New England, which just brought us the New Hampshire win. Going product-focused and staying close to home is not a step back. It is the same Equity thinking aimed at our own company. We design around what we do best and who we are built to serve, instead of chasing whatever the system happens to reward.

What I am asking of you: the next time you are about to call something finished, run the quiet test one more time. Who is missing from the picture? What is the one barrier I could remove right now? That question is the whole practice.

Our AI for Good for All approach stands on two pillars. A pillar is just a main support. This week we open the first one: Human Responsibility. It means making sure technology serves people. It is not one rule. It is a set of promises that show up in every choice we make about AI. This is where Equity and AI meet.

Right now, national rules on AI fairness are unsettled. When that happens, the work falls to states, agencies and firms like ours. JJR's tools already do what those rules would ask for. We have a practical way to spot, measure and reduce AI harm. And we do not wait for permission.

In earlier issues, we built the Three-Pass habit. That means you work with AI in rounds instead of taking its first answer. This week we aim that third round straight at Equity. Once you have a draft you like, paste it back into your AI tool with the prompt below.

A Successful Environmental Justice Summit

The Massachusetts Environmental Justice Summit filled Mechanics Hall in Worcester on June 17. The day came with real challenges, and JJR worked hard to make it a success and to put the people attending first.

• Childcare was arranged so families could take part.
• JJR supported community members with travel reimbursement, so getting there was not a barrier.

Christina Wilson led this work for JJR, with Samay Esparza also contributing. Christina and Jenna attended in person and helped set up the day before and the day of.

BCEH Deputy Director Training

This leadership program started in May and continues now. Amy Branger is building it. The lessons start with what the directors already bring. One lesson treats managing up, which means working well with your own boss, as a real skill. Starting with people's strengths is asset-framing built right into the design.

Public Health Hospital System: Training and Onboarding

Erica Briggs is supporting a ten part training series for the Public Health Hospital System, along with onboarding for new staff.

DPH Coaching: In Motion

June check-ins are underway with the DPH managers we coach.

• The equity-centered matching system is moving toward a live test, with Sid Datla building the setup behind it.
• Our coaching now reaches past our Northeast home base, all the way to Marin County, California.

Conference Season Is Here

Travel runs through June, with more coming in October. Sadé Farquhar and I are mapping the full season now. That way the whole team knows when I am away, and our systems are ready to carry the work without me in the room. That is the firm practicing what it sells.

Here is a small thing that makes us look like one firm with one voice: a matching email signature. Please replace any older one, especially any that spells the firm name wrong. It is always JJRconsulting, one word, with a lowercase c. Copy the sample below, swap in your details and paste it into Outlook under Settings, then Signatures. A ready-to-paste version is saved in the Consultant Connections folder as JJR-Email-Signature-Template.html.