About ACE

Our Values

Advancing Communities for Equity leads with:

Equity

Equity, as both a lens and a goal, is fundamental to the work we lead as an anti-racist organization.

Community

The community holds the answer. The work focuses on listening to stakeholders, and building the capacity of participants and those served to accomplish more on their own.

Data

Data drives decisions from design, to implementation, monitoring, and evaluating quality. We go where the data takes us.

Systems

Systems thinking provides perspective to unpack the structures and mental models that shape the patterns and events that we see.

Respect

Children and families are worthy of our respect, in policy and practice.

Our Services

Advancing Communities for Equity is proud to offer:

Strategic Planning and Implementation

Program Evaluation and Planning

Improvement Planning

Training, Writing, and Public Speaking

EDI and ECE Advising

Ace is proud to work with:

Some of our Clients:

Our Founder

Emmy O’Dwyer – Founder and Principal

Emmy O’Dwyer has worked in the field of education for over 20 years as a teacher, early childhood and K-12 administrator, nonprofit executive director, and state government strategist. She is an entrepreneurial founder whose career encompasses a broad scope of expertise: from grassroots organizations and pilots to statewide policies, programs, and quality improvements. Emmy’s career in early childhood began when she opened the first new early learning center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina wiped out 80% of programs. She has participated in workgroups and steering committees for many local and national early childhood focused initiatives. Emmy’s community involvement resulted in a commendation from the mayor of New Orleans as well as national recognition as a 2014 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network fellow. The three year fellowship focused on racial equity and healing, and was foundational for her current leadership in diversity, equity, and inclusion work. In her capacity as a senior strategist at the Louisiana Department of Education, Emmy directly managed a portfolio of over $20 million including oversight of the strategy, programs, and contracts for entities that support early learning centers. This includes directing Louisiana’s early childhood coaching, technical assistance, professional development, teacher certification, mental health consultation, and site improvement planning. She has created and launched a statewide shared services strategy including a number of initiatives that strengthen the business practices, technology use, and leadership skills of early learning center directors. Emmy was the lead staff for the state’s Early Childhood Care and Education Commission, a legislated body that sets the long-term strategy for increasing access to quality for young children in Louisiana. In 2020, Emmy was named as a Learning Sciences Exchange fellow for New America, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. In 2021, Emmy founded Advancing Communities for Equity to help expand equitable communities across the nation.

Our Team

Advancing Communities for Equity works with a team of professional colleagues with varied areas of expertise to best meet the needs of its partners. Our partners help support research, strategy and content development, stakeholder engagement and more. We have the capacity to manage large scale projects as well as one-time needs. Learn more about our work in the Case Studies tab. Contact us to discuss your project and for information on the team we would assemble for your project.