Shantay Jackson helps jurisdictions build public safety systems that survive leadership transitions, funding shifts, and election cycles.
For nearly a decade, mayors, county executives, city administrators, Office of Violence Prevention directors, community leaders, and national partners have trusted Shantay to strengthen violence reduction infrastructure, align cross-sector ecosystems, and help build systems designed to last.
Most cities approach violence reduction in election cycles. New administration, new initiative, new name on the office door. Plans are announced. Press conferences are held. New initiatives are launched.
But the infrastructure itself never gets built. Institutional memory walks out with each transition, and hard-won gains are erased by the same stubborn systemic problems.
Evolve to Lead approaches the challenge differently. With executive leadership experience across the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors, the firm sees connections and systems where many consultants see pieces.
Shantay applies her cross-disciplinary perspective to help jurisdictions build durable public safety systems — staffed, funded, and structurally sound enough to survive a change in leadership. Whether establishing a new Office of Violence Prevention or strengthening existing infrastructure, the goal is the same: systems that continue reducing violence long after the headlines fade.
Across public safety transformation and broader cross-sector organizational work, the discipline is the same: build systems designed to outlast their founders, funders, and political cycles. A few of our recent engagement below.
Built MONSE from the ground up to a team of nearly fifty — designing the staffing structure, funding strategy, cross-sector partnerships, and operational framework that helped position Baltimore for long-term violence reduction. A pilot launched under Shantay Jackson's leadership later expanded throughout the city as Baltimore experienced significant reductions in violent crime.
Under Shantay's leadership, NOVPN's membership grew from 45 jurisdictions to over 90 in two years — establishing the Network as one of the field's leading peer-learning and infrastructure-building bodies for Offices of Violence Prevention. The annual and regional convenings became the field's primary gathering points. The Network's structural growth created political cover for member jurisdictions navigating leadership transitions and funding shifts, and positioned NOVPN as a credible interlocutor for federal partners shaping the next generation of violence reduction policy.
The engagement contributed to violence reduction planning and ecosystem development efforts across four Michigan jurisdictions and the state's broader CVI infrastructure. Local stakeholders gained shared frameworks and a clearer line of sight to state-level coordination. State leadership gained an operational partner with cross-sector experience and direct knowledge of how other states have built — and failed to build — durable violence reduction infrastructure. The work continues to inform Michigan's statewide approach.
Shantay builds systems to last — to demonstrate value, to sustain the needs of those on the front line all the way to the mayor.Ruth Abaya Senior Director, Health Alliance for Violence Intervention
The strategy decisions made in the first ninety days often determine whether an office reduces violence or just announces it will. Whether your jurisdiction is standing up a new office, strengthening an existing one, or figuring out what comes next — let's talk.