Meet Our Team
Seva Gandhi
Founder + Executive Director
Seva is a facilitator, trainer, and consultant working on both community and organizational development in Chicago and with partners around the US and the globe. She continually seeks out new tools and innovative processes that center inclusion, participation, and strategic thinking in group planning efforts.
Seva received her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) with a focus on community organizing and nonprofit management from the University of Michigan. She is a Mentor Trainer and Certified Facilitator in Technology of Participation facilitation methods. She currently serves as Board Chair for The WasteShed. Much of Seva’s work focuses on the intersection of community engagement, environmental justice, and anti-racism.
Samantha Sainsbury
Director of Operations
Samantha Sainsbury is a Certified ToP Facilitator and ToP Mentor Trainer. She has years of experience managing multi-sector collaboration among mission-driven organizations, with a focus on the narratives that groups hold for themselves. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Gender and Sexuality Studies from Northwestern University.
Her key multi-year projects in Chicago include managing a cross-community education project to develop culturally specific energy messages with partners in three communities, engaging residents in the Uptown community in a planning process around sustainability as well as coastal education, and organizing and facilitating cross-community partnership within a grassroots sustainability network.
Toni Anderson
ASsociate
Toni Anderson is a southside Chicago native dedicated to fostering meaningful eco-social practice as a roadmap for personal and societal transformation. Toni is a practitioner of wholeness, a healer, an urban ecologist, and spiritualist. Through her organization, MindfulRant, LLC, she facilitates expanding our capacity to transcend and transmute the oppressive narratives that space holds within communities of color. Her methodologies allow organizations/groups to overcome limiting beliefs and unproductive patterns. Toni’s organizational mentoring strategies are designed to support leaders in emergent language and practices that examine how we decolonize governance through emergent culture change. Toni is a recognized expert in climate and culture change movements, space equity and mindful leadership, dedicating herself to bringing planet consciousness to the communities she serves.
Jake Ament
Associate
Jake Ament is an experienced leader in fostering collaboration and driving positive change across communities and non-profit organizations. As Director of the Neighborhood Network for LISC Chicago, he spent 11 years supporting Chicago neighborhoods in creating and implementing community-led Quality-of-Life Plans to drive equitable change. He also led LISC Chicago’s policy work and One Chicago for All coalition of 30 community-driven, social impact organizations working together toward a Chicago that is equitable and anti-racist and builds wealth for communities of color.
Jake previously served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Policy Development and Research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and as a Fellow in the Chicago Mayor’s Office and began his career as an architectural acoustician. Jake received his Master’s in Public Policy from the Harris School at the University of Chicago, undergraduate degree in acoustical engineering from Iowa State University, and certificate in non-profit management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.
Darryl Answer
Associate
Darryl Answer was born and raised in London, England. He is currently co-pastor of New Community Church and founder of Verge Solutions LLC. Darryl has served in a variety of leadership roles within churches, non-profit organizations, and in community development. Before entering the consulting field, Darryl worked in neighborhoods as a mobilizer and connector of residents and institutions around their shared vision for community. Through Verge Solutions LLC, Darryl provides consulting and training for organizations and communities in the areas of entrepreneurial mindset (ELI) and community development through an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) lens.
Kit Kat
Assistant to the Director of Operations
Whether answering calls, cleaning up crumbs from the office floor, or warding off unwanted characters, Kit Kat handles whatever needs to be done. 100% legend.
Board Members
Anika Fassia
Co-founder (We Make the Future and We Make the Future Action)
Anika is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of We Make the Future (WMTF). WMTF launched in early 2021 to combine strategic communications and coalition building to implement race-forward narratives that motivate our base and persuade the middle for wins that allow all our communities to thrive. Prior to co-founding WMTF, Anika was the Outreach and Training Director of Race Class Narrative Action where she led partnerships with organizations spanning seven Midwestern states.
Grant T. Buhr
LICSW/LMSW Therapist (Arbor Circle)
Grant is a licensed clinical social worker, researcher, and audio producer. He employs a unique blend of somatic therapy and digital storytelling to highlight the interconnectedness of mind and body in the healing process and to amplify the voices of those best suited to change systems.
Grant received his Master’s of Social Work from the University of Chicago with a focus on violence prevention. Grant is actively engaged in research that delves into the multifaceted impacts of incarceration. His work contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by individuals during and after their time in the criminal justice system, with a focus on informing evidence-based interventions and policy changes. Beyond his clinical and research roles, Grant is invested in supporting street-level outreach workers and individuals navigating the reentry process after incarceration and collaborates with community organizations to advocate for systemic change.
Christopher Wheat
Managing Director, Policy & Government Affairs (Sustainable Cities Fund)
Chris Wheat is Managing Director for Policy and Government Affairs at the Sustainable Cities Fund. The Fund works with donors to support and enable equitable climate action at the local level. Chris joined the Fund from the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State at Chicago Booth, where he served as Executive Director. Previously Chris worked alongside Mayors to adopt environmental policies as Strategy and City Engagement Director for the American Cities Climate Challenge at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Before NRDC, Chris spent seven years in various roles in the Office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, including Chief of Policy, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Innovation Delivery Team Director. Chris also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Strategy at Chicago Booth, is Vice-Chair of the Chicago Development Commission, and is on the Board of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Chris holds a BA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Chicago Booth.
Ren Daraio
Senior Associate (The Center for Strategic Facilitation)
Co-Director (Temescal Associates and the HowKidsLearn Foundation)
At Temescal Associates/HKL Foundation, Ren taps into the inherent curiosity of youth for the radical transformation of programs, communities, and the planet. She does this by eliciting the internal knowledge and wisdom of leaders in the field and introducing them to new knowledge and strategies. At the Center for Strategic Facilitation, Ren focuses on large-scale initiatives through community impact, strategic planning, and systems building focused primarily in the non-profit and government arenas.
Patrick O’Rourke
Vice President of Human Resources (BCS Financial)
Patrick brings 15 years of experience in organizational leadership and human capital strategy including talent acquisition, talent development, and performance management. He is also an active member in the Oakbrook Chamber of Commerce where he serves on the Talented Workforce Committee and Young Business Leaders group. Patrick holds his Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Consulting & Organizational Leadership from Benedictine University.
Connect With Us
Contact us to learn how we can help your community, organization, or project achieve success through participatory engagement and collective decision-making.