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2 <br /> <br />Consultant Approach <br />Consultant’s general approach to Equity is through the lens of Targeted Universalism (TU). The TU <br />approach was co-conceptualized by Seed co-founder john a. powell, and entails establishing a <br />universal goal pursued by targeted strategies and processes to achieve the goal.2 <br />TU recognizes that to accomplish a universal goal, we must acknowledge the fact that different groups <br />of people are situated differently within society. This is a result of structural inequities t hat create <br />different kinds of barriers and thus different pathways of reaching a goal. <br />TU directs attention to these various barriers and pathways and suggests structural changes to make <br />reaching a goal smoother. By doing so, people are met where they are. Strategies are designed to <br />accomplish a goal by taking people’s specific situations into consideration so that they can get what <br />they need when and how they need it, while also moving all towards the universal goal. <br />TU also addresses the polarization caused by only targeted or only universal strategies. Solely <br />universal strategies fail to recognize the ways in which groups are situated. These types of strategies <br />will work for those that are considered the norm but not for those with specific, unique conditions. Solely <br />universal strategies are often perceived as overly ambitious and inadequate in helping those most in <br />need. <br />Conversely, solely targeted strategies tend to not consider the ways in which the norms, desires, and <br />practices of different groups may differ from the imagined universal being. Targeted strategies alone <br />focus on supporting individuals while failing to transform systems; they are sometimes criticized for <br />unfairly helping one group over another and can be viewed as preferential, thus seeding hostility and <br />resentment. <br />TU is a data-driven methodology that involves a five-step process: <br />1. Define the universal goal <br />2. Measure how the overall population fairs relative to the universal goal <br />3. Measure the performance of population segments compared to the universal goal <br />4. Understand how structures and other factors support or impede group progress towards the <br />universal goal <br />5. Implement targeted strategies <br />Targeted Universalism can be applied in internal and external contexts and can help organizations <br />reach goals related to equity and belonging within the operations of an organization, as well as within <br />the programs and services it provides to the community. <br />Consultant approaches all client engagements through the lens of a collaborative learning-exchange <br />based on a consensus-building process that transfers lasting institutional benefits. Integral to <br /> <br /> <br />2 https://haasinstitute.berkeley.edu/targeteduniversalism