Gita Gulati-Partee is a practical visionary and a tempered radical. She approaches work and life with a sense of purpose, possibility, and humor. She founded OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc. in 2003.

Gita has extensive experience in asset-based methods of inquiry and engagement, and she has worked with a range of groups – from small grassroots operations to national networks and infrastructure organizations to grantmaking institutions and individual donors. She serves as senior consultant to the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and on the core faculty of Duke University’s annual Institute in Nonprofit Leadership.

Gita brings a strong and diverse portfolio of experience and training to OpenSource. She was recently the program director for public policy at the NC Center for Nonprofits – the statewide network, resource center, and advocate for nonprofits in NC – and editor of the Center’s bimonthly Common Ground. Previously, Gita served as a program officer with The Cleveland Foundation, where she conducted strategic grantmaking in arts and education and directed a technology capacity-building project. Earlier, Gita managed special projects for the National Society for Experiential Education, and she coordinated educational programs for the Duke University Talent Identification Program.

Gita earned an MBA with concentrations in entrepreneurship and organizational behavior, as well as a Certificate in Public Policy, from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. She received her BA and Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University.

Gita has served in leadership positions with the N.C. Conservation Network, N.C. Civic Education Consortium, ncyt – NC’s Network for Young Nonprofit Professionals, Triangle Community Foundation, American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, and a grassroots citizen campaign known as “Bullish on Durham.” Gita has published books and articles on advocacy, grantmaking, service-learning, and internships. She is a 2001-03 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

Evangeline Polly Weiss is a master facilitator and social change instigator with a twinkle in her eye! With over 12 years of community building and training and development experience, Evangeline enjoys opportunities to support organizations and individuals on a path towards greater wholeness, intentionality and purpose. Evangeline is passionate about waging peace and brings this lens to all that she facilitates. She joined OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc. in July of 2007.

Evangeline’s areas of expertise include work culture assessment and transformation, transforming teamwork, leadership development, and adult learning theory and practice. In addition to large-scale institutional change, Evangeline is invested in helping individuals connect their own experience with oppression and privilege to organizational practice and policy. Evangeline has extensive experience working with healthcare and social service providers, medical students and hospital administrators on cultural competency and provider effectiveness.

After earning a masters degree in educational policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Evangeline began her career in public health, facilitating harm reduction education, providing data collection, and sharpening her own counseling and facilitation skills. She continued at Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the New York City Department of Health where she realized her passion for engaging activists and social service providers in values clarification and skill building activities in order to improve the quality of health care for disenfranchised people.

Since moving to North Carolina in 2002, Evangeline has developed and implemented numerous diversity-related capacity building initiatives, including training on race, gender, sexual orientation, and generational differences, film serials, and white privilege anti racism study circles for in Duke University’s Office for Institutional Equity. During her five years as Director of Diversity and Equity Programs, Evangeline received the 2005 Presidential Award for Meritorious Service as well as the Distinguished Activist Award by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Task Force.

In addition to studying with the Institute for Life-Leadership and Coaching in Charlotte, NC, Evangeline has held numerous volunteer leadership positions at the Madison Rape Crisis Center, The Samaritans Suicide Hotline and the Healing Center in NY; the North Carolina Society for Ethical Culture; the Orange County Dispute Settlement Center. Currently, she is a board member of stone circles, in Durham, NC.

Chantelle Fisher-Borne has practiced the art of social activism and community organizing for most of her adult life. She spent the first 25 years of her life in southern Louisiana and now calls North Carolina home. Her formal education includes a master’s degree in public health from UNC-Chapel Hill in health behavior and health education.

Currently, her professional life includes working as a public health researcher and also as a grassroots organizer. Her work in public health addresses health disparities by developing, implementing, and evaluating community-driven health interventions in eastern North Carolina.  As a grassroots organizer, Chantelle is part of a growing movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer activists committed to building community and movement strategy across various lines of difference—including race, sexuality, class and gender.  To this end, much of her work focuses on strengthening the ability of religious and spiritual communities to engage in the struggle for LGBTQ equality in the US.

Chantelle has conducted trainings and workshops addressing diversity and cultural competency for the past 8 years, with a primary focus on the impact of heterosexism and racism within educational systems and nonprofit organizations. As a facilitator and community member, she strives to build collaborations across lines of difference. She and her partner, also a southerner, are committed to creating a progressive movement across lines of difference throughout the South.

All OpenSource engagements are negotiated and overseen by Gita or Evangeline. Depending on the nature of the engagement, OpenSource draws in a variety of resource providers, including the following OpenSource Consulting Partners.

Calvin Allen is a storyteller and connector. He serves as executive director of Public Allies North Carolina, which provides 10-month nonprofit fellowship placements, weekly leadership seminars, and team service opportunities for young adults (ages 18-30). Previously, Calvin was Associate Director at the Dispute Settlement Center of Orange County, a community mediation center.

A North Carolina native and Duke University graduate, Calvin has worked in the nonprofit sector as an administrator, trainer, facilitator, advocate, and consultant. Calvin has spent most of his career providing workshops in communication, conflict management, nonprofit management, youth and young adult advocacy, leadership development, and anti-oppression issues.

Calvin serves the Triangle community through participation on the steering committees of the Grassroots Fund of the Fund for Southern Communities, NC Gives, the NC Discovery Alliance, and the NC People’s Coalition for Giving. He serves on the boards of NetCorps NC, the American Civil Liberties Union NC, and Equality NC. Calvin also is a 2003-2005 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

Bridgette Burge is a long-time grassroots organizer for progressive social change. She is a bridge-builder, a team player, and an unwavering advocate for justice and peace. Bridgette was born and raised in a working-class family in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bridgette graduated from Rhodes College and earned a master’s degree from the University of Memphis in Anthropology with a concentration in grassroots organizing in urban settings. She and a fellow anthropologist conducted nearly a year of post-undergraduate fieldwork in Honduras, Central America. With backgrounds in oral history and ethnography, and long-held interests in women’s issues, community organizing, and poverty, they collected the life histories of rural women while conducting evaluations for Heifer Project International of women’s empowerment through sustainable agriculture projects.

Back in Memphis, Bridgette was a founding member of Latino Memphis-Conexion, a coalition of community members, activists, and service providers established to advocate for Latino immigrants. She helped design a series of asset-based inquiries and surveys in the Latino community. Meanwhile, she served on the board of directors for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and Peace Action. She co-founded the Memphis team of FAVAN, the Families Against Violence Advocacy Network, and led non-violence and dismantling oppression trainings for children in the Memphis City School System. In 1999, she became the statewide coordinator of North Carolina Peace Action, and later served for nearly five years as the executive director of North Carolina Peace Action Education Fund.

Bridgette is active in the antiwar and social justice movement and serves on the Interim Steering Committee of the NC Peace and Justice Coalition. She was recently awarded NC Peace Action’s annual Peacemaker Award. She has a four-year-old boy named Jacob, and she and her long-time partner Pete are soon to be married.

Ilana Dubester is the Program Coordinator South for the Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities, an initiative of Hispanics in Philanthropy to strengthen Latino-led nonprofit organizations through capacity building grants and trainings. She has lived in Chatham County since 1991.

In 1995, Ilana served as the Latino Program Coordinator for Chatham’s Cooperative Extension Service, where she was responsible for developing and implementing educational programs for Latino families. Also in 1995, she founded El Vínculo Hispano/Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County, and served as its Executive Director until March 2004. El Vínculo is a community-based organization that offers information and referrals, education, leadership development, and advocacy for Latinos.

Ilana is a NC Certified Court Interpreter. In 1998, Ilana was appointed by Governor Hunt to the Governor’s Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, where she continues to serve under Governor Easley. Also at the state level, she serves on the Administrative Office of the Courts Foreign Language Task Force and on the Board of the NC Justice Center.

Ilana is originally from Brazil and in 1996 she became a US citizen. She holds an Associate Degree in Social Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew. She is a 2001-2003 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

Graig Meyer spends most of his time thinking about how to change the world. In his professional career, Graig is the coordinator of the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. In its efforts to close the minority achievement gap, BRMA provides students of color with mentoring, advocacy, tutoring, leadership development, and scholarship support. Graig has extensive experience with policy and staff development initiatives designed to end institutionalized racism and promote educational equity and excellence.

Graig is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Wooster, and was trained as a social worker at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Graig has professional experience in police, child welfare, and school social work settings. His consulting experience includes anti-racism training and organizational development assistance to both nonprofits and educational organizations.

Graig is a husband, father, and mentor. He serves as a board member and program committee chair for ncyt, North Carolina’s network of young nonprofit professionals. Graig is also a 2003-2005 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

Contact Us
OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc.
762 Ninth Street, #534 | Durham, NC 27705
919-824-3914 | info@opensourceleadership.com


home | about | client partners | consulting team | free stuff & links