McClaurin Solutions (profile) is a minority woman-owned business enterprise that began in the 1990's.  I and my team are focused on giving clients the support they need to achieve sustainable results through creative approaches and  strategic problem solving.  While McClaurin Solutions has amassed broad expertise, our focus is on five key areas: Organizational Culture & Change Management; Assessments & Evaluations; Strategic Program Development; Authentic Community Engagement Practices; and Executive Leadership Coaching. We seek to help clients "stop the madness" (and raise their awareness of unconscious biases and the centrality of diversity and inclusiveness to effective organizational practices) by providing solutions that are sometimes outside the box, and not merely a repetition of the same old approaches.  Dr. Irma McClaurin and her team members have worked across the country with colleges and universities, corporations, non-profits, small businesses, K-12 school systems, museums, as well as individuals. They are motivational speakers, skilled workshop presenters, researchers, and award-winning writers who are  comfortable working in  local, national and global contexts. 

 Community Engagement

Committed to community partnerships, Dr. McClaurin is a  past member of the  Downtown Raleigh Alliance, the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and Artspace.  She is a founding board member of the Afro-Latin@ Project,  the Hip-Hop Education Center at NYU and Fire!!!: The Multi-media Journal of Black Studies.


McClaurin Solutions 

Projects 

Book--What have WOMEN contributed to Hip-Hop??  Dr. Irma McClaurin (co-editor) joins Editor, Martha Diaz and co-editor Dr. Rachel Ramist in answering this question. They have compiled the first collection of essays and encyclopedic entries of women's global contributions to Hip-Hop and its culture in Fresh, Bold, and So Def: Women in Hip-Hop Changing the Game (tags: hip hop, cultural studies, women, feminism).  Forthcoming....for now; read about it.


 The Oberlin-Pine View Cemetery Preservation Project 

McClaurin Solutions provided technical assistance to the Friends of Oberlin and Pine View Cemetery in their efforts to maintain these two historic grave sites of Raleigh's early African American residents and their descendants.  In 2012 the Oberlin Cemetery was designated a City of Raleigh Historic Landmark  and cultural treasure in Raleigh, N.C.  View more photos and two Videos:   Friends of Oberlin-Pineview Cemetery; Friends of Oberlin Cemetery.  Join the ongoing efforts to preserve our African American past. Sign the Change petition. Learn more about this grassroots community preservation project (http://www.friendsofoberlin.org/). 

 SIGN FOR OBERLIN CEMETERY DESIGNED BY MCCLAURIN SOLUTIONS

Coaching/Mentoring in ACTION 

Dr. McClaurin mentoring students at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Caribbean Studies Association's "Tia & Tio" (Auntie & Uncle) Program in Trinidad.   Read Dr. McClaurin's thoughts on Mentoring.  She has served as an Executive Coach for senior federal executives for the United States government, using her framework of REInvention Coaching and lens of Leadership and Resilience. 

James Haskins Endowment Fund, University of Florida

Dr. McClaurin, a former faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at UF, helped develop the fundraising action plan to establish the James Haskins Endowment Fund, now divided into the "James Haskins Visiting Scholars Fellowship" and the Jim Haskins Library Collection.  McClaurin also conceptualized and wrote the content for the Case Statement (excerpted below) and contributed to its design in collaboration with his wife, Kathy Benson Haskins and the University of Florida Foundation staff. 

Portrait of a 'Humanitarian Philosopher''

"On the most basic level, it is this historical ability to define our own humanity, and thereby to create a heritage of which we can be proud, that to me is the most significant aspect of being a Black Alabamian." James Haskins

A Small Ounce of Privacy

Who could imagine that from a small place like Demopolis, Alabama, would emerge a man of such enormous vision and talent? James Haskins was born there on September 19, 1941.  Family and relatives knew him by his basket name, "Dazzle," and later Uncle D; his teachers knew him as James; and to friends and neighbors he was simply Jim.  Amidst the noise and antics of a houseful of siblings, Jim found a small ounce of privacy in reading.  It opened up the windows of his imagination and transported him away from the segregated borders of Alabama to the world beyond.

(View the  Endowment Case Statement

Photo Courtesy of The University of Florida          

Restoration and Renovation of the Connie E. Kimbo Black Cultural Center, Grinnell College

When the Black alumni at Grinnell College wanted to preserve the Connie Kimbo Black Cultural Center, they turned to one of their own for help.  In 2010, Dr. McClaurin was invited to develop a fundraising action plan to raise the matching funds to aid in the renovation and re-imagination of the Connie Kimbo Black Cultural Center

Action Plan KBCC Grinnell Aug 12 2010C.pdf Action Plan KBCC Grinnell Aug 12 2010C.pdf
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Founding Board Member of the AfroLatin@ Project

 Webinars/Workshops

Since 1991, Dr. McClaurin has designed numerous presentations, workshops, and webinars on various topics: community engagement, cultural preservation, national and international policies, diversity, domestic violence, leadership, legacy building (fundraising/endowments), post-graduate professionalization, racism and sexual harassment,  writing (academic, policy, public), and tenure and promotion.  Below are some of the groups she has worked with:

 Association of Black Anthropologists/ Caribbean Studies Association Columbia Teacher’s College/ Des Moines Department of Health and Human Services/Grinnell Middle School Staff/ Grinnell College/Illinois Research Center’s Administrator’s Institute on Early Childhood Education/ Iowa Department of Economic Development/ MN Mayo Clinic and community partners/ Ms Magazine Feminist Scholars Writers Workshop/ National Women’s Studies Association/ University of Minnesota’s Executive Leadership Institute in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs & Women’s Leadership Institute/ University of Florida’s anthropology graduate program/ University of Oregon/Senior leaders from a cross-section of federal agencies, including NASA, Veterans Affairs, Education, FEMA, Health, Navy, Defense Intelligence Agency/International groups from China & Taiwan.