For-profit

Educational Equity Consultants, LLC

Website:

eec4justice.com/

Location:

St. Louis, MO

Type:

For-profit DEI Consultant

Formation:

2001

Executive Director:

Anthony “Tony” Neal

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Educational Equity Consultants, LLC (EEC) is an educational training and advisory group based in St. Louis, Missouri. 1 EEC operates critical race theory-inspired “diversity training sessions” to address perceived racism, sexism, and classism within schools. 2 EEC has worked with more than 3,000 school district leaders since its founding in 2001. 3

EEC has contended that America has “continued to use oppression to stabilize white America at the expense of destabilizing black America” and that racial educational achievement gaps “exist because [the education system] was designed that way.” 4

History and Leadership

Educational Equity Consultants was founded in 2001 5 and incorporated in Missouri in 2009. 6 Since 2001, EEC has worked with 3,000 school district leaders 7 and faculties through its Leadership and Racism Program, formerly called the Teaching and Leading as Social Justice Advocacy Program. 8

Anthony “Tony” Neal is the president and CEO of EEC. Neal has been a race policy trainer at the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), the left-of-center Anti-Defamation League, and the Coro Midwestern Leadership Center. 9

Neal is also the executive director of the Center for Educational Equity, 10 the president of the Royal Vagabonds Foundation, 11 and formerly hosted the podcast Just Talk! Educational Equity Podcast on critical race-theory-inspired concepts and activism. 12

Activities and Funding

Educational Equity Consultants operates critical race theory-inspired “diversity training sessions” to address perceived racism, sexism, and classism within schools. 13 “Just Organizations.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-organizations/.[/note] EEC defines racism as “a system grounded in the presumed superiority of the white race,” oppression as “the oppression of people of color and the benefit of the dominant group,” 14 and “white privilege” as the “unquestioned, unlearned and most often unconscious” expectations bestowed on white people based on membership in America’s culturally dominant group. 15

EEC has said that the United States has “continued to use oppression to stabilize white America at the expense of destabilizing black America” and that racial educational achievement gaps “exist because [the education system] was designed that way.” 16 EEC has also identified schools telling a “singular story” with books primarily written by white men, student seating charts, and discipline disparity are signs that a school has a “diversity problem.” 17

EEC operates four “just” programs to address educational achievement gaps:

  • Just Schools, a six-day program to examine race relations and oppression at schools that consists of a two-day overnight retreat and four days of “diversity training” for teachers. 18
  • Just Students, an in-school training program to develop critical race theory-inspired social-justice leadership organizations within schools. 19
  • Just Organizations, formerly the Leadership and Racism Institute, a four-day overnight retreat focused on critical race theory-inspired issues. 20
  • Just Trainer, a four-day program to train licensed diversity trainers. 21

EEC has advised school districts or conducted these programs on “racism and oppression, internal training teams, and identity-affirming content” 22 in school districts in California, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 23 24

As a result of participating in EEC programming, Parkway School District in St. Louis, Missouri, has a “social justice cadre” in each building and monthly workshops on race, culture, and ethnicity in the curriculum, 25 while Webster Groves, Missouri School District administrators, teachers, and staff have changed the school’s curriculum and added a play in its theater program that addresses LGBT issues. 26

EEC has conducted voter registration drives in Missouri. 27 Its curriculum lists left-of-center groups including Bridging to Belonging (a project of the University of California, Berkeley), 28 Lynching in America (a project of the Equal Justice Initiative), Black Girls MIA, ERASE Racism, The Othering and Belonging Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Unite4Equity, Change Philanthropy, Schott Foundation for Public Education, Race Forward, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), and others as racial equity tools. 29

EEC’s reading list for educators 30 and its “resources 4 justice” list of recommended resources for staff and students included the controversial 1619 Project; a “reparations toolkit”; links to left-of-center organizations including Embrace Race, Brookings Institution, YWCA USA, Black Futures Lab, Sunrise Movement, Teach Climate Justice, Until We Are All Free, Zinn Education Project; and books by critical race theory-inspired authors Ibram X. Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, and others. 31

Funding

Educational Equity Consultants receives its funding from program service fees. Since 2018, the EEC has won at least $302,054.50 in contracts, including $97,512.50 from Lee’s Summit R-7 School District in Missouri; 32 $95,767 from North Kansas City Schools in Kansas City, Missouri; and $100,000 from St. Louis Public Schools in St. Louis, Missouri. 33 Some parents and teachers at Lee’s Summit R-7 School District opposed the controversial plan to use EEC to conduct so-called equity training in the district. 34

References

  1. “Articles of Registration.” State of Missouri, Secretary of State. April 22, 2009. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Educational-Equity-Consultants_2009_05-22_Articles-of-Organization_Missouri-Secretary-of-State_FRDOCUMENT_21984671_11.pdf.
  2. “Just Organizations.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-organizations/.
  3. “About Us.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/about/.
  4. “Call to action.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/call-to-action/.
  5. “Met the EEC team!” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/about/.
  6. [1]“Articles of Registration.” State of Missouri, Secretary of State. April 22, 2009. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Educational-Equity-Consultants_2009_05-22_Articles-of-Organization_Missouri-Secretary-of-State_FRDOCUMENT_21984671_11.pdf.
  7. “About Us.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/about/.
  8. “Tony Neal.” National Youth Summit on Educational Justice and Leadership. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://www.thenys.com/presenters/tony-neal/.
  9. “Tony Neal.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/staff/tony-neal/.
  10. “Tony Neal.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/staff/tony-neal/.
  11. “Tony Neal.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/staff/tony-neal/.
  12.  [1] “Just Talk! Educational Equity Podcast.” Apple Podcasts. Accessed November 14, 2021.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-talk-educational-equity-podcast/id1451554496.
  13. “Just Organizations.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-organizations/.
  14. “Racism.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/racism/.
  15. “White Privilege.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/white-privilege/.
  16. “Call to action.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/call-to-action/.
  17. [1] “Three warning signs that your school has a problem with diversity: Take a closer look.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/three-warning-signs-that-your-school-has-a-problem-with-diversity-taking-a-closer-look/.
  18. “Just Schools.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-trainer/.
  19. “Just Students.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-students/.
  20. “Just Organizations.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-organizations/.
  21. “Just Trainer.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/diversity-training/just-trainer/.
  22. “Clients.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/clients/.
  23. “Equity Training: The LSr7 experience.” Lee’s Summit R-7 School District YouTube. Uploaded March 12, 2020. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHgJh1dPnnU.
  24. “Clients.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/clients/.
  25. “Diversity training brings incredible results to Parkway School District.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/diversity-training-brings-incredible-results-to-parkway-school-district/.
  26. “Here’s how Diversity Training Improved Webster Groves School District.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/heres-how-diversity-training-improved-webster-groves-school-district/.
  27. “Voter Registration.” EEC Resources 4 Justice. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article230905803.html.
  28. “Othering & Belonging Institute.” University of California, Berkeley. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/bridging-belonging.
  29. “Racial Equity Tools.” Educational Equity Consulting. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/just-resources/racial-equity-tools/.
  30. “Suggested reading.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://eec4justice.com/category/suggested-reading/.
  31. EEC Resource 4 Justice.” Educational Equity Consultants. Accessed November 14, 2021. http://www.eecresources4justice.com/.
  32. “Service Agreement with Equity Work Consulting Services.” Lee’s Summit R-7 Schools. March 29, 2019. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Educational-Equity-Consultants-LLC_2019_05-16_Lee_s-Summit-R-7-School-District_Service-Agreement-2019-34-Equity-Work-Consulting-Services.docx.pdf.
  33. “Form No. 3: Experience/References.” St. Louis Public Schools. March 20, 2019. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Educational-Equity-Consultants-LLC_St.-Louis-Public-Schools-MO-2018-2020_100000-for-Developing-Culturally-Responsive-Leadership.pdf.
  34. Williams, Mará Rose. “As classrooms grow more diverse, equity training shows teachers have a lot to learn.” Kansas City Star. June 23, 2019. Accessed November 14, 2021. https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article230905803.html.
  See an error? Let us know!

Educational Equity Consultants, LLC

9378 Olive Boulevard, Suite 206
St. Louis, MO