They call me the “Org Doc”

Dr. Maaskelah K. Thomas, Organizational Capacity Building Consultant and Principal Consultant at Transformative Concepts. Dr. Thomas has worked for over 25 years with community-serving organizations and agencies. A native Wichita, Kansan, her work has consisted of building, developing and sustaining partnerships and collaborative efforts to leverage resources. Her prior work in municipal government and with Wichita State University’s Center for Community Support and Research, allowed Dr. Thomas to assist in building the capacity of communities by facilitating intergenerational civic involvement and lifelong learning opportunities.

Dr. Thomas’ work includes assisting The African American Council of Elders ~ Wichita/Sedgwick County with ongoing organizational development work, including coordination of the Digital Elders project, the Circle of Sharing Time Banking project and the Village Round Table web portal; assisting the Kansas African American Affairs Commission with its statewide Community Mobilization Project related to its State of African Americans in Kansas Indices research; Kansas Urban League Strategic Planning; coordinating the Wichita Youth Empowerment Project, a collaborative of youth development organizations; the Compassion Kansas Capacity Building Project, serving non-profit organizations throughout Kansas; and numerous other organizational capacity building projects for local and statewide non-profits.

She is an active member of the American Evaluation Association and the Social Psychology Network, and provides outcome-based evaluation and project management services to not-for-profit enterprises.

Dr. Thomas holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Management and Organizational Development, a Masters in Adult Education, and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development. A scholar-practitioner, Dr. Thomas is the Principal Consultant for Transformative Concepts Consulting Group, and is also an Assistant Professor of Organizational Psychology at Colorado Technical University and Ethics at the University of Phoenix.

PUBLICATIONS

Jolley, S., Wituk, S., Gregory, T., Thomas, M., Meissen, G. (2009) Capacity building with faith-based and community organizations: Lessons learned from the Compassion Kansas Initiative in Consulting and Evaluation with Nonprofit and Community-based Organizations (eds. Judah J. Viola and Susan Dvorak McMahon). Chicago: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Thomas, M. (2008). The effects of culturally based intentionality on organization capacity-building needs. Santa Barbara: Fielding Graduate University.

Elias-Rodas, D., Wituk, S., Greg Meissen, G., Thomas, M., Gregory, T., Goines, P. (2008). Wichita Youth Empowerment Partnership: A Community Assessment of District 1; Proceedings of the 4th Annual GRASP Symposium. Wichita: Wichita State University.

Elias-Rodas, D., Wituk, S., Greg Meissen, G., Thomas, M., Gregory, T., Goines, P., Betzen, D. Looking Through Their Eyes: A Participatory Community Assessment with Urban African American Youth.

Chinyere-Jeng, Maaskelah (1994). Once wanted: A man to help me raise my son in The Single Mother’s Companion: Essays and Stories by Women (ed. Marsha R. Leslie). Seattle: Seal Press.