Haakmat Consulting, LLC is a consulting firm solely operated by Martha Haakmat, a former private school administrator, that provides diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting services to private K-12 schools, with a focus on elite preparatory schools in the New York City area. ¹ The firm works with schools to develop curricula and training for teachers and has developed a heightened profile and increased demand for consulting services as more schools have implemented critical race theory-inspired curricula following Black Lives Matter movement protests in 2020. ²

Background

Haakmat Consulting was started by Martha Haakmat, who is the sole proprietor of the firm, in 2019. Haakmat is a former private school administrator, having worked at a variety of private schools for over thirty years. Previous roles she has held have included director of diversity at the Packer Collegiate Institute, head of the middle school at the Brooklyn Friends School, and head of school at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. She attended Wesleyan University followed by graduate school at the Bank Street College of Education. ³

Haakmat is a longtime member and lecturer for groups including the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), the Independent School Admission Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY) and New York City Guild of Independent School Heads. She also previously founded a diversity consulting organization called Educators for Growth and Empowerment (EDGE), which gives presentations on diversity, equity, and inclusion nationwide. ⁴

Prior to becoming a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant, Haakmat was a proponent for racial education curriculum. She wrote a blog post in 2016 explaining how she raised her children to be “centered in their racial identities” and frequently explained to her children that “…it is a school’s job to educate children about power, privilege, and systemic racism.” ⁵

Activity

Haakmat Consulting and similar diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firms have seen an increase in clients since the Black Lives Matter movement grew in 2020. ⁶ Such expansion of race-related curricula has led to criticism from parents and teachers who alleged that such programming goes as far as “demonizing whites”⁷ and suppressed free thought. ⁸

One example recent example of Martha Haakmat being brought into consult at an elite New York prep school was at Columbia Preparatory and Grammar School, the oldest nonsectarian private school in the United States. The school announced the hiring of Haakmat amid a commitment to fostering an “anti-racist” community at the school. ⁹ The hiring of Haakmat at Columbia Prep came in response to an anonymous Instagram account that was started to highlight incidences of racial bias among the school’s population, which was inspired by a similar account targeting the all-girls Brearley School and was one of several similar accounts started at prep schools across the United States. The school also created a committee for diversity ad inclusion among its board and expanded recruitment to attract more minority students and teachers. ¹⁰

Another recent project of Haakmat was leasing an anti-racism working group at a virtual conference for the Association of Independent Schools in New England. ¹¹ Other clients of Haakmat’s firm include The Brearley School, the Portledge School, the Horace Mann School, and the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS). ¹²

1. “Clients.” Haakmat Consulting. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.haakmatconsulting.com/clients
2. “Historic NYC School Vows to Address Systemic Racism After Insta Page Highlights Problems.” NBC 4 New York. June 25, 2020. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/historic-nyc-school-vows-to-address-systemic-racism-after-instagram-page-highlighted-problems/2484311/
3. “Martha Haakmat.” Linkedin Profile. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-haakmat-3607519b/
4. “About.” Haakmat Consulting. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.haakmatconsulting.com/about
5. Haakmat, Martha. “The Curriculum I Created for My Children: Combating ‘Why Is the Bad Guy Brown?’” Raising Race Conscious Children. November 4, 2016. Accessed May 14, 2021. http://www.raceconscious.org/2016/11/curriculum-created-children-combating-bad-guy-brown/
6. “Historic NYC School Vows to Address Systemic Racism After Insta Page Highlights Problems.” NBC 4 New York. June 25, 2020. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/historic-nyc-school-vows-to-address-systemic-racism-after-instagram-page-highlighted-problems/2484311/
7. Bellafante, Ginia. “Private Schools Brought In Diversity Consultants. Outrage Ensued.” The New York Times. April 23, 2021. Accessed May 24, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/23/nyregion/private-schools-diversity-brearley-dalton-grace.html
8. Bellafante, Ginia. “Private Schools Brought In Diversity Consultants. Outrage Ensued.” The New York Times. April 23, 2021. Accessed May 24, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/23/nyregion/private-schools-diversity-brearley-dalton-grace.html
9. “Historic NYC School Vows to Address Systemic Racism After Insta Page Highlights Problems.” NBC 4 New York. June 25, 2020. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/historic-nyc-school-vows-to-address-systemic-racism-after-instagram-page-highlighted-problems/2484311/
10. “Historic NYC School Vows to Address Systemic Racism After Insta Page Highlights Problems.” NBC 4 New York. June 25, 2020. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/historic-nyc-school-vows-to-address-systemic-racism-after-instagram-page-highlighted-problems/2484311/
11. “Anti-Racism Working Groups.” Association of Independent Schools in New England. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.aisne.org/events/cohorts/heads-of-school-anti-racism-working-group
12. “Clients.” Haakmat Consulting. Accessed May 14, 2021. https://www.haakmatconsulting.com/clients