About Us

Leslie Jacobs, MSW

Organizational Development Strategist

With over 40 years supporting government and nonprofit organizations, Leslie Jacobs helps organizations grow their capacity for impact. She guides mission-focused teams through periods of change and growth. Her practice focuses on:

  • Strategic planning

  • Organizational reviews

  • Board development

  • Program design and implementation 

  • Market development

  • Policy analysis

Leslie’s background spans a wide variety of program areas, including children and family services, transportation, education, public health, consumer services, hunger relief, housing, arts and culture. She began consulting in 1992. Some of her better known projects include an extensive reorganization of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ Office of Legal Services in response to intense public pressure, and developing the then new $10 million Beverly Arts Center of Chicago.  She has worked on projects as diverse as finding a creative re-use for an empty vaudeville theater to drafting a strategic plan for a mental health advocacy agency.   

MORE ABOUT LESLIE

Leslie’s career has taken her from Pennsylvania where she was Executive Director of a county public transportation system, to Ann Arbor where she received an MSW in Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan, to Washington, D.C. where she worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

She moved to Chicago in 1980, where she took a position as Principal Analyst in the Office of Budget and Management under Mayor Byrne.  After the 1983 election, Leslie served five years as an assistant to Mayor Washington, who then asked her to reorganize the Department of Consumer Services and appointed her First Deputy Commissioner.  After Mayor Washington’s death, she became Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Building Department, appointed by Mayor Sawyer. Later, Mayor Daley appointed her Deputy Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities – a department that she designed.

Leslie serves on many nonprofit boards and gives generously of her time.  She was awarded the Superior Public Service Award for her work on hunger and homelessness in 1984, and was one of its youngest recipients.  The United Way of Chicago recognized her for Outstanding Leadership in 1991, 1992 and 1993.  In 2001, she received a national award from the American Medical Women’s Association and Pharmacia Corporation for Stage Door Café, a teen program she created for the Beverly Arts Center.  

Melanie Stathis, MSPE

Social Impact Data Strategist

With over 15 years helping non-profits increase their capacity for impact, Melanie Stathis helps organizations leverage data for strategic planning, continuous improvement, resource development and grant management. She builds organizational capacity by developing practical systems for tracking and data-driven decision-making. She also guides stakeholders through collaborative visioning and implementation planning, so that teams can maximize their impact and tell their story. Her practice focuses on:

  • Strategic research and data-informed planning

  • Strategic monitoring and evaluation

  • Grant management

  • Programmatic monitoring, evaluation and learning

  • Community-engaged research

  • Data management, data system and dashboard design

  • Impact storytelling and grant writing

Melanie has a passion for catalyzing early stage growth for new programs and initiatives. Her background spans a wide variety of program areas, including violence intervention, youth development, early education (Head Start), public health, hunger relief, housing, sports, fitness, digital equity, workforce development, arts and culture.

Melanie began consulting in 2024, after having worked in nonprofits for over 12 years. She has advised clients such as the Chicago Architecture Center, the Middle Eastern Immigrant and Refugee Alliance, Snow City Arts, the Planning Accreditation Board and Hoan Marketing, and has partnered extensively with CBWhite Strategy and Research.

MORE ABOUT MELANIE

I first discovered my passion for empowering the disempowered when I was a teen, inspired by experiences volunteering internationally and by my mother’s example. My interest in intercultural dialogue and the complexities of poverty led me to study economic development in the global south at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. I earned my Masters in Policy Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, eager to understand the systemic drivers behind inequity and poverty.

While I initially planned to travel the world for work, my sights turned back to my hometown, Chicago, where there was clearly a great need for intercultural dialogue and anti-poverty work. I started my work in Chicago as a coach to unhoused and low-income participants working on financial and employment goals. I believe that my interactions with these participants were the most formative educational experiences I have had to date. I carry forward their resilience and willingness to lean on the support of others, as key ingredients in our collective endeavor to create a world where all can thrive.