I am an experienced advocate, convener, facilitator, program designer, trainer, technical assistance provider and director of multi-site programs advancing social and economic opportunity for low-wealth individuals in America. In the years since my graduation from Columbia University and the UCLA School of Law, I have developed significant and varied experience and contacts in the poverty-alleviation field. 


I serve as an independent consultant with expertise in workforce development, asset-building, diversity, equity and inclusion and third-party facilitation.

Business Consulting

 

                                                    Rene Bryce-Laporte

                                                                Principal


 

 

 

 








​I am an experienced board director. I currently serve on the board of The BridgeLab. In recent years, I have also served on the Board of Directors of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, where I chaired the Program-Related Investment Committee and also sat on the Finance Committee. I served as the Director of Finance and Business Operations for the Chesapeake Bay Organization Development Network and Treasurer for the Campaign for Youth Justice. I also earned a certification as a non-profit board facilitator from Board Source. 

Before launching my consultancy, I was on staff with Skills for America's Future (SAF), an initiative of the Aspen Institute. SAF promoted and encouraged partnerships between forward-thinking business and entrepreneurial community colleges to match education and training to jobs. I previously served as a Senior Associate at the Community Strategies Group (CSG) at Aspen Institute working on asset-building, rural community development and collaborations with community foundations. CSG helped community leaders develop and execute plans to address social and economic challenges and opportunities in their regions. 

Previously, I served as Financial Education Specialist at the now-defunct Pennsylvania Office of Financial Education, working with community-based financial education providers, public and private agencies, and Pennsylvania residents. 

I also played several key roles as a Senior Program Manager at Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development or CFED). My positions included; Director of the American Dream Demonstration; Coordinator of the National IDA Learning Conference (now the Assets Learning Conference); Community Partner Liaison for the Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship and Downpayment (SEED) Initiative; and Manager of CFED’s Microenterprise Policy Project. I was engaged in work that aimed to help disadvantaged Americans build assets as a sustainable ladder out of persistent poverty and into sustainable economic opportunity. 

I also served as Domestic Legislative Associate at RESULTS, Inc., a grassroots, anti-poverty organization. There I led a team of staffers and volunteers dedicated to ending hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. I held primary responsibility for successful policy initiatives including restoration of food stamps to legal immigrants, advocacy for training dollars for low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, and funding to support Individual Development Accounts. 

 

As a consultant, I have designed and led organizational diversity, equity and inclusion audits; designed and led learning and discussion sessions for staff and leaders, served as program director for a start-up non-profit providing emergency aid to post-secondary students, designed and facilitated board and staff retreats; coordinated and facilitated a peer exchange network for workforce development providers, led webinars and provided individual technical assistance to organizations seeking to design Individual Development Account programs, served as an advisor and facilitator for rural consortia seeking to collaborate on economic development strategy and served as a researcher and writer on various other projects. 

Contact René.