Clients: We Work With

Charis Denison began her career as a teacher but soon found that in order to achieve the goals she had for young people and communities, she needed to widen her own definition of community. This led to the creation of Prajna Consulting and the inclusion of families, businesses, and non-profits in Prajna’s work.

After almost ten years teaching and running Human Development and Community Involvement programs in several schools, Charis knew she had programs that were highly successful (some nationally recognized for their effectiveness) and wanted to allow other Schools and Faculties the opportunity to use her models and philosophy. She started consulting for the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education and, soon, she had made a name for herself as a powerful and dynamic presenter and consultant. Now, through Prajna, her philosophy and curriculum around social justice and human development has been integrated into dozens of schools across the country.

Through our work with schools, we understand that in order to help Students define, own, and apply their own sets of values and ethics, we need the support from families. Adolescents, today, have enormous obstacles they must overcome to make wise choices. We believe that when students receive similar messages from the classroom and home, they are better able to combat those obstacles. Our work with Parents & Families achieves that unified front.

Prajna closed the gap in its mission to create stronger communities by including non-profits and businesses in its consulting. Just as the conversation with students is not complete without families, the conversation with community is not complete without the agencies and businesses that work in them. Through her extensive work running service programs in schools, Charis had the opportunity to work closely with hundreds of Non-profits. She found by sitting on non-profit boards herself, she knew better how to prepare and place her own students into meaningful and sustainable service placements. For example, as Board President for San Francisco-based Haight Ashbury Food Program, she formalized the already rich relationship between the Urban School and the Food Program by integrating a hands-on developmental approach to education on hunger and poverty.

Finally, Charis enrolled in graduate school to receive a Masters degree in Organizational Development in order to integrate the for-profit world into Prajna’s approach. Her thesis work proved her thinking that effective service is reciprocal for everyone, even corporations. Businesses not only owe something back to the communities in which they work, but in developing those relationships, they attract and retain higher performing and more loyal employees. Her thesis tracked the profits of businesses that integrated paid release time for their employees to volunteer in the communities where they work. Prajna now helps businesses create those programs.