About Us
Our approach combines leadership development, coaching, and hands-on technical assistance to strengthen human services systems—child welfare, education, juvenile justice, and youth development.
About
Brightpath Strategies
We offer five core services:
1. SPEAR: Shifting Power for Equity and Results
Our flagship framework for system-community transformation. SPEAR brings together diverse stakeholders in a two-year journey to build trust, co-create equitable programs, and activate community-driven change. Each cohort begins with our 3 Keys to Effective Communication with Community process to help systems acknowledge harm, reframe challenges, and engage community with humility and purpose.
2. Aligned and Advanced Individual Coaching
We offer equity-centered coaching for leaders navigating complex roles and change efforts. Our coaching supports reflection, role clarity, strategic alignment, and personal growth, helping leaders lead with integrity and build results in partnership with community.
3. Results Count® Leadership Programs
Grounded in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Results Count framework, these programs help leaders build the skills and mindset to drive measurable, equitable outcomes. We support individuals and teams in leading across boundaries, using data for results, and staying grounded in community-defined goals.
4. System Transformation Technical Assistance
We work with systems to assess policies, practices, and structures—and develop bold, equity-centered strategies for transformation. Our TA includes policy development, audits, implementation support, cross-sector collaboration, and capacity building for reform grounded in community engagement and data.
5. Nonprofit Support Services
We help community-based organizations grow their capacity, clarify their vision, and strengthen their infrastructure to lead transformative work. Our services include strategic planning, board development, fundraising coaching, and support for program design and measurement—always grounded in equity and local context.
Across all five service areas, Brightpath Strategies brings a deep commitment to equity, authentic partnership, and a results-oriented approach. We believe that the most powerful solutions are built with communities—not for them—and we’re here to help bring those solutions to life.
Our Vision
Our Mission
We activate the expertise and capacity within each local community for transformative solutions to the needs they identify and toward the equitable future each deserves.
Our Beliefs
- Community is the catalyst for transformation. We believe that lasting change begins with the people most impacted. Communities know what works, and our job is to activate their expertise and support their solutions.
- Systems must follow the lead of community. Reform efforts cannot succeed without shifting power toward the wisdom and leadership of those who live at the center of the challenge.
- Leadership must be cultivated, not positional. Lasting impact depends on developing leaders who can navigate complexity, align around results, and act with clarity, courage, and equity.
- Fixing what’s broken isn’t enough—we must build what’s possible. We believe in a builder’s mindset. That means focusing on what we want to create, not just what we want to stop. We help leaders imagine and construct new pathways to equity and well-being.
- Technical expertise alone won’t change outcomes. Data systems, policy frameworks, and performance tools matter—but only in service of bold leadership, shared vision, and community partnership.
- New nonprofits and grassroots agencies need investment. To sustain the solutions communities already know will work, we must support the development of nonprofit infrastructure, leadership capacity, and funding strategies that resource long-term change.
- Equity is not an add-on—it’s the foundation. We center equity in every engagement, recognizing that systems have caused harm and that transformation requires accountability, trust-building, and structural repair.
Message from the Founder
Jim Czarniak
I founded Brightpath Strategies with a simple but powerful belief: communities hold the wisdom, strength, and vision needed to shape their own futures. After decades working in both government systems and nonprofit organizations, I saw how often those systems, while well intended and filled with passionate leaders and workers, failed to deliver on their promises—especially for children, youth, and communities they are charged with helping.
Brightpath was created to change that. We bring a builder’s mindset to every partnership—focusing not only on what’s broken, but on what’s possible. We support leaders and communities to co-create solutions, shift power, and align efforts to achieve bold, equitable results. Whether through our SPEAR framework, Results Count leadership programs, coaching engagements, or technical and nonprofit support, our goal is to walk alongside those working toward transformation and ensure their efforts are grounded in equity, data, and shared purpose.
We don’t come in as saviors or consultants with all the answers. We come as partners—ready to listen, ready to build, and committed to helping you achieve the future your community envisions and deserves.
— Jim Czarniak Founder, Brightpath Strategies, LLC
Ready to get started?
Call us at 315-530-8210
