Policy · Advocacy · Community Strategy · Public Speaking
Listening is the first step.
Action is the next.
At Koren Consults, connection is at the heart of everything we do. We bring organizations, foundations and communities together to develop thoughtful programs, sustainable strategies and impactful partnerships.
Start a ConversationWhat we believe
Communities already know
what they need.
The people closest to a challenge are usually the ones who understand it best. What they need is someone to hold their voices steady through the long process of change. Someone who can translate a story into a policy ask, a concern into a budget line, and a relationship into a coalition.
That is where Koren Consults comes in. We listen, build, and walk with you until the work can keep going on its own.
Building partnerships across policy, programs, and communities
College and university partnerships built together
Advocates supported through strategic partnerships and programs
People reached through a single public health gathering
Who we partner with
You need more than a report.
You need someone who listens deeply.
HIGHER EDUCATION & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
You are shaping future leaders by creating classrooms, campuses, and career pathways that meet young people where they are and guide them toward where they deserve to be. We help you turn youth potential into measurable progress, stronger communities, and lasting change.
Workforce Development
You are building teams where people want to stay and grow. We help you design workforce strategies that strengthen morale, deepen team trust, and connect employees to career pathways that honor their experience and fuel long-term success.
Energy Efficiency
You are connecting residents, workforce partners, and local organizations to energy efficiency resources, clean transportation opportunities, and workforce pathways in the expanding clean energy economy. We help you turn equitable energy access into community empowerment and lasting economic progress.
Economic Mobility
You are expanding access to stable housing, early literacy, and food equity so families can build wealth, stay rooted, and thrive in the communities they call home. We help you design programs and partnerships that remove barriers, increase resources, and create measurable pathways to financial stability and generational opportunity.
Proof, not promises
Through community engagement, storytelling, education, and equity-centered initiatives, we help ensure that the knowledge and experiences of communities shape the decisions, investments, and solutions that affect their lives.
Who we are
We carry community wisdom
into the rooms that shape change.
Jasmine K. Hicks, Founder and Principal
Equity isn't an initiative; it's an outcome. Koren Consults exists to close the gap between an organization's equity commitments and the communities meant to benefit from them, ensuring the people closest to the issue are also closest to the decision.
We operate at the intersection of community, policy, funding, and partnerships. Our expertise translates community priorities into policy positions, policy positions into funded programs, and funded programs into coalitions built to sustain measurable impact. For organizations investing in equity, that means CSR dollars, philanthropic giving, and community engagement strategies that produce accountable and demonstrable outcomes.
Fifteen years of experience in government relations, policy strategy, program design, and cross-sector partnership development inform every engagement. We've stewarded national grant portfolios worth millions of dollars, advised hospital systems and foundation boards on operationalizing community-centered strategy, and built workforce and economic-mobility programming that expanded opportunity for underserved populations.
A city council hearing, a corporate boardroom, and a community listening session each carry different stakes and different stakeholders; we move between them fluently, aligning institutional priorities with community-defined need, and deliver strategy built to be funded, adopted, and sustained.
Founder & Principal
About Jasmine Hicks.
The person behind the firm.
Jasmine K. Hicks has more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and organizational strategy, designing coalitions, campaigns, and community-informed agendas that help mission-driven organizations move from vision to real, measurable change. She has spent her career turning priorities into funded programs, adopted policy and sustainable partnerships.
Jasmine also brings deep experience in clean energy, economic opportunity, and community empowerment. She served as a Policy and Advocacy Fellow with Solar United Neighbors, where she supported policies that promote equitable energy access and distributed solar initiatives. Currently, she is the Community Outreach Director for Electrify Equity, connecting residents, workforce partners, and local organizations to resources for energy efficiency, clean transportation opportunities, and workforce pathways in the expanding clean energy economy.
Through Koren Consults, Jasmine supports public health systems, foundations, and grassroots organizations on strategies that translate community voice into institutional change:
- Building community-informed policy and advocacy agendas rooted in listening, stakeholder data, and lived experience.
- Advancing health equity by strengthening trust and partnership between hospital systems and the communities they serve.
- Guiding foundations and philanthropic boards toward values-driven, community-led giving strategies.
- Designing workforce and economic mobility programming for communities facing systemic economic barriers.
Her consulting clients include MedStar Health, The Campbell Foundation, Solar United Neighbors, and Black Women Thriving East of the River, where she designed the policy and advocacy agenda now guiding the organization's civic engagement work.
Experience
Jasmine has more than 15 years of nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and policy advocacy experience. Before founding Koren Consults, she served as National Field Director at Young Invincibles, where she managed more than $3 million in foundation and corporate grants and was promoted from State Outreach Coordinator within two years. She began her career in youth civic engagement as Program Director for Young Civic Leaders at MassVOTES and Site Director for Project R.I.S.E., and has held additional roles with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the office of Senator Edward Kennedy.
Education & Community
Jasmine holds a Master of Arts in Family, Community & Youth Sciences, with a concentration in Nonprofit Organizations, from the University of Florida, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Northeastern University.
Based in Washington, DC, she is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. since 2008, and serves on the Alumni Board and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Board of Thayer Academy. She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Peak Grantmaking DC Chapter.
How we work together
Support that meets you
where you are.
Every engagement starts with the same question. What will actually be different for the people you serve, and how will you know together?
Policy, Advocacy & Grassroots Mobilization
Core Engagement · Ongoing
We help you build a policy agenda rooted in listening, lived experience, and the real questions constinuents are asking. Then we bring together community, elected officials, and institutions around shared goals, at scale, without losing the human relationships that make the work matter.
Best for: Organizations and campaigns with a cause and a community, looking for breadth, depth, and a clear path forward.
Government & Public Affairs
Ongoing Partnership
We nurture honest relationships with legislators, agencies, and policymakers so your community's voice is present before decisions are finalized.
Best for: Teams who want to be invited into policy conversations early, not informed after the fact.
Program Design & Management
Project · 90 Days And Up
We co-design workforce, public health and economic mobility programs, from the first draft through the evaluation that helps organizations understand the heart of the work.
Best for: Groups with a strong idea and a wish to build it with, not for, the people it serves.
PHILANTHROPIC & GRANT STRATEGY
Advisory + Project Engagement
We align corporate and foundation giving with priorities communities have already identified, help you tell the story in a way that feels true to all stakeholders involved, and manage grants with reporting systems that keep organizations close to the impact and the community.
Best for: Organizations who want their generosity to grow into a deeper strategy, and organizations leaving opportunities on the table or struggling to keep up with reporting.
Keynotes & Workshops
Talks and hands-on sessions
for main stages, leadership offsites, and teams.
Jasmine brings policy, advocacy, and community strategy to life in rooms that need more than inspiration — they need practical tools teams can use the next day.
What partners say
We can describe the work. They lived it.
Black Women Thriving East of the River | Community Engagement + Policy
“Jasmine helped us move from listening to action. She created a process that centered the voices of Black women East of the River, translated what we heard into clear policy priorities, and created opportunities for residents to engage directly with candidates and decision-makers. Her ability to bring people together while keeping community voice at the center was invaluable.”
Community on the Frontline | CTE + Workforce Development
“Koren Consults helped us turn an idea for exposing young people to the skilled trades into a structured program that connected students with real career pathways. Jasmine developed and facilitated programming that built students' professional and life skills while connecting them directly with industry professionals and hands-on experiences. Students left the program with a greater understanding of opportunities beyond college, and two participants took concrete next steps toward employment and apprenticeship opportunities.”
Tia Minor, Community Engagement, MedStar Family Choice DC | Community Engagement + Health Equity
“Through our partnership with Horton’s Kids, MedStar is committed to supporting the holistic health and development of young people in Southeast DC. Jasmine has helped us bring that commitment to life by developing and facilitating engaging enrichment programming on topics ranging from civic engagement and identity to professionalism, time management, financial literacy, and wellness. She understands how to meet young people where they are and create experiences that build confidence, knowledge, and skills they can carry into their lives.”
Client portfolio includes
You know what your community needs.
Let's build the plan together.
Koren Consults partners with nonprofits, foundations, grassroots organizations, and institutions working across public health systems, education, youth development and workforce development, energy efficiency, and economic mobility. Our edge is simple: we listen first, build with rather than for, and stay honest about what it takes to move from vision to measurable change. Whether you need strategy, advocacy support, program design, or a speaker for your next convening, tell us where you stand and let's build the plan together.