WHO WE ARE

Johanna is the owner and principal consultant of LGA Consulting and brings over 30 years of experience supporting, leading, and advising programs, teams, and organizations in the nonprofit, education, and human service fields. She earned a BA in Sociology from The Colorado College with an emphasis in urban and ethnic studies. She began her career at Mi Casa Resource Center for Women as a program director supporting Latina youth. She later served as Executive Director of La Clinica Tepeyac, a community-based, Latino-focused health clinic in Denver. She then transitioned to JVA Consulting providing nonprofits with support in fund development, strategic planning, board development, leadership coaching, program design, and evaluation. She later earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a community development concentration. Her career later led her to Diversity and Equity work at the University of Denver where she served as a Director, Assistant Provost, and Associate Vice Chancellor. Her focus while at DU was on creating lasting change across the campus to improve the recruitment and retention of students, staff, and faculty from historically marginalized communities. After leaving DU, Johanna opened LGA Consulting, bringing together talented social justice practitioners to support grassroots and systemic social change efforts. 

Sarah maximizes the capacity of nonprofits and institutions through grant research and writing as well as storytelling and impact reporting. Leveraging her background as a humanities academic and community organizer, she helps her clients make their vision for social justice reality by facilitating participatory assessments and delivering sustainable funding to build organizational capacity. Before becoming a nonprofit consultant, Sarah researched, published, and taught about early American literature and histories, gender and sexuality, race and slavery, and empire and settler colonialism. For over a decade, she collaborated on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, assessment, and program development in higher education. As the founder of the Lydia Maria Child Society, Sarah established a not-for-profit organization devoted to the pursuit of social equity and justice, and she continues to serve on the executive board. Having started her career in a K-12 federal grant program based inside of a high school, she feels she has come full circle. These experiences inform her current work as a grant writer and consultant who aims to make the world better with the power of words.

Ana León was born in Mexico and moved to the United States at the age of 10. As a low-income, non-native English-speaking immigrant, she overcame numerous challenges to pursue higher education, ultimately earning a Ph.D. These experiences instilled in her a deep understanding of the diverse obstacles individuals face and the importance of community support in fostering healthy lives. Ana has dedicated herself to community work by engaging with nonprofit organizations, shaping policies, and implementing culturally responsive and equitable evaluation methods. Her commitment to integrating cultural considerations into every stage of the evaluation process ensures that programs and policies are both effective and inclusive. By employing participatory approaches, Ana empowers marginalized groups, ensuring their voices are central to decision-making processes. Her work is informed by a deep understanding of the historical and social contexts that influence program outcomes, allowing for evaluations that are both accurate and culturally sensitive. Ana's dedication to fostering inclusive environments has made a significant impact on the organizations and communities she serves. She continues to advocate for and implement strategies that address systemic inequities, striving to create a more just and equitable society.

Gayle grew up in Mumbai, India where getting clean water is still a dream for millions and overcoming poverty is an ongoing issue for the majority. She moved to the US as a teen and eventually settled in Northwest Denver where she spent nearly 40 years working for local grassroots, nonprofit organizations primarily in Denver’s Latino community. She began her career at the Boys and Girls Club in West Denver, then spent nearly 15 years at Mi Casa Resource Center developing and managing youth and adult programs addressing school success and business and economic development. During her time at Mi Casa, she participated in a Kellogg Foundation Project to support the development of local collective leadership that resulted in community-led initiatives to address local issues. This work included capturing stories of community leadership and capacity building for communities to use as guides for future work with foundations. She eventually transitioned to consulting to support a variety of local nonprofits. She has also worked with communities to develop evaluation and program strategies to target specific community-identified issues. Gayle’s background as a participant, manager, evaluator, board member, and grant writer gives her unique and invaluable perspectives.

Anna Lopez came to LGA after retiring from a 30-year career with the State of Colorado, Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice  in juvenile justice.  Throughout her career she has gained a wide range of skills including policy development and advocacy, grants management, program evaluation and community engagement for impactful change. For the first 28 years of her career,  she worked to reduce and eliminate the over-representation of youth of color within the juvenile justice system through a system improvement lens.  This was accomplished by working with communities to use data to identify issues and to develop meaningful interventions to mitigate the causes.  Simultaneously, Anna worked on projects focused on delinquency prevention, substance-use prevention, and improving the mental health response of the juvenile justice system. Anna coached community coalitions in utilizing local data to identify problem areas and how to use evidence-based research to create and implement programs to impact positive change.  Anna also facilitated many policy-related projects that resulted in lasting tools to improve systems. In addition, she was the grant program manager and Grants Program Supervisor for many juvenile justice grant programs throughout her career. In her final role, as Supervisor she served as the liaison between the Office of Adult and Juvenile Justice’s seven federally funded grant programs and the issuing federal agencies, oversaw and ensured proper reporting, and assumed responsibility for complying with each programs’ special conditions. In addition, in those last two years, Anna co-led the establishing of seven new state programs created in the 2022 legislative session. 

IAs a child of immigrants who grew up in a small town in Colorado, Kavi has a deep appreciation for the experience of the “other” in society. This background has shaped her professional journey as she finds joy in designing spaces, systems, practices, and tools that help us honor all people and perspectives, recognizing individuals and communities as their own best experts. Kavi has spent the last 20 years working in community development, positive youth development, partner engagement, grant management, strategic operations, capacity building, and coaching in a variety of settings, including the finance, government, non-profit, and higher education sectors. She has experience in nonprofit leadership, program design and management, educational resource and curriculum development, group and community learning facilitation, as well as program assessment and technical assistance for continuous quality improvement. Much of Kavi's approach comes from her time working alongside young people as partners, making spaces for them to share their ideas and shape our communities. The lessons learned alongside these youth continue to inspire and motivate Kavi as she advocates to hear the voices of the people closest to the impact. Kavi is an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation. In this capacity, she provides one-on-one developmental coaching, team coaching, and training on utilizing coaching skills. She is also a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI), supporting others to assess, explore, and develop their intercultural competence.

Danielle is the granddaughter of Mirna Prieto, Maria del Refugia Aguilar, Jose Prieto, and Rafael Aguilar. She is the proud daughter of Lorraine Y. Velasquez and Antonio Aguilar. Hailing from Ontario, California, Danielle comes from a working-class family with three siblings and is a happy tia/auntie. Danielle studied Feminist and Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a Pell Grant recipient and first-generation college student. She earned a master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont. Danielle was a leader in residential life, orientation, multicultural affairs, and LGBTQ student services before pursuing a PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy, and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. In her work today, Danielle employs critical theory and community-based research approaches to disrupt the relationship between the ways that incarceration is used as a tool for social control and its impact on society and youth. Danielle aspires to be a tenured professor at a minority-serving institution to support and mentor young scholars. When she’s not researching, Danielle enjoys the tastiness of being a foodie, vibing at concerts, and embarking on adventures.