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About Najoli Learning Group, LLC
Najoli Learning Group LLC is a premier person-centered learning & development organization that equips leaders and organizations with the essential soft skills required to build trust, strengthen relationships, and create trauma-responsive environments that drive real results.
The hard facts about soft skills are that they are needed in human-centered environments where people from different backgrounds work together successfully toward a common mission. We understand this, and we work to facilitate learning and growth experiences that create dynamic environments where people contribute in unique and authentic ways.
Thought Leadership
The following webinars were provided by national experts as part of Nebraska's Person-Centered Planning Initiative. Trainings provided tools to empower participants, families, and guardians to expand their knowledge and skills to develop person-centered plans. Free training was sponsored by the Nebraska Council on Developmental Disabilities.
The Neighborhood Summit is the annual event which brings together hundreds of community leaders and volunteers, city officials and non-profits in a day long series of seminars and workshops aimed at helping Cincinnatians work effectively together to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods. Gather with 500 – 600 like minded people to learn, engage, share and plan.Recorded by City of Cincinnati.
A repository for University of Cincinnati students and faculty
Beginning on November 12, 2020, as part of the virtual Ideas that Matter series, The Black American Tree Project conducted an experiential workshop giving participants a ‘feeling’ of 400 years of colonial oppression. These experiences were developed and presented by Danyetta Najoli and Freda Epum.
The Black American Tree Project sessions were on November 12 and December 7, 2020.
Since its inception, the project has had 35 iterations for over 750 participants globally.
New York State Department of Health’s Person-Centered Planning Statewide Training Initiative
New York State Dept. of Health
From 2021-2026, Najoli Learning Group provided design and facilitation of Person Centered Practices and Cultural Humility (Module 8) for the State of New York Department of Health.
Here is what participants had to say about Danyetta's training:
The information, tools, and skills presented in the training are relevant to my work, or if I am a HCBS recipient, to my services/supports. 98% agree.
As a result of this training, I feel more confident in my person-centered skills. 97% agree.
Marked knowledge growth in these key areas:
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Ability to describe cultural humility and how it applies to home and community-based services and supports.
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Ability to identify key aspects of person-centered cultural humility in order to provide services and supports in line with the HCBS Final Rule.
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Ability to engage in action learning and raise awareness around people's values and lived experiences.
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Understanding of the difference between Cultural Humility and Cultural Competence.
If you are likely to make changes, what will you do differently as a result of this training? Or, if you will not make changes, why not?
"Be more aware of how culture effects needs and expectation of member."
"Examine my own cultural beliefs closer as well as my cultural bias. Also have the team go through the training as well."
"I am more sensitive to learning about others cultures and not making assumptions. I have always been respectful of others but will now take time to learn from clients as they know their own culture better than me."
"I will definitely try to be more in tune with my clients, to allow time for them to speak and share information about themselves before I even start speaking."
"It is a topic I feel more comfortable discussing with my Care Managers to help them while working with clients."
"Seek to understand my own biases and how that affects my interactions w/ others. Seek further training modules"
"Work on listening asking more culturally relevant questions"
New York Housing Resource Center (NYHRC) for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Podcast Season 3 - Episode 15
Person-Centered Planning Focus
Resource Description: "Person-Centered" is a term we hear all the time, but what does it really mean? Join your host, Chris Liuzzo, as he brings you conversations with people that explore aspects of person centered planning and person centered work that will bring the plans we make with people to life.
Categories:
Page: Housing Planning, Person-Centered Planning
The National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems (NCAPPS) was an initiative from the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that helps States, Tribes, and Territories implement person-centered thinking, planning, and practice in line with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services policy.
Throughout the years, NCAPPS hosted informational webinars on a variety of topics related to person-centered thinking, planning and practice. The webinars were open to the public and the content was geared toward human services administrators, providers, and people who use long-term services and supports.
Watch a conversation of Artist's Collective founding members Kachelle Cunningham and Danyetta Najoli along with Artist in Residence Julia Bean-Powell discuss the importance of their community connection.
Free LIFEMAKING Guide
Published by Inclusion Seekers powered by Starfire
Danyetta, Kachelle, and Julia are acknowledged in this beautifully written book showcasing the power of gathering and lifemaking in community.
SoapBox Media Article- Community Building in My Neighborhood
Price Hill Rises on its Own Terms by Lorie Baker 5/5/26
Danyetta contributed to this article about life in her community and the belief that people have gifts, talents, and skills to share with one another.
The 2022 Learning Community for Person Centered Practices (TLCPCP)
The Gathering
The Gathering is a long-standing tradition at the Learning Community for Person Centred Practices. “The TLCPCP Gathering is a special event where people come together to learn, share, and connect. It's hosted by The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices (TLCPCP), a group inspired by Michael Smull, who has worked for over 30 years to spread Person Centered Practices around the world.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, they were determined to carry on this tradition. It was an honor to share with the group virtually.
Danyetta Najoli’s Keynote Address:
CELEBRATING WHERE WE ARE GOING - TOGETHER
WVXU Article & Audio - The Black American Tree Project
The Federation of Humanities: Making Meaning Inaugural Podcast
Featuring The Black American Tree Project
Episode 5: Living Histories of Race and Racism: Danyetta Najoli, co-founder of The Black American Tree Project, explains how the immersive story-telling project’s design evokes a sense of reckoning with slavery’s origins. Dr. Jack Tchen, the Inaugural Clement A. Price Professor of Public History and the Humanities and Director of the Price Institute at Rutgers University, takes a deep dive into histories of dispossession.
“The Black American Tree Project offers meaningful dialogue, reflection, learning, and community connection in an engaging format. After being a participant, I decided to partner with Danyetta and Freda to include the Black American Tree Project as part of my Community Involvement course at the University of Cincinnati. I wanted to allow students an opportunity to challenge their thoughts, which can foster community and inclusion beyond the classroom.”
-Dr. Amber Kelly, President and CEO of Community Engagement Collective, Adjunct Faculty at the University of Cincinnati and National Louis University.
The JFDE is hosted by the Institute for Community Justice and Wellbeing (ICJW) at Miami University’s College of Education, Health & Society. In order to enact the mission of the ICJW to cultivate mutually beneficial, ethical, and transformative relationships among diverse community allies, this journal offers a rigorous exchange of new ideas, pedagogy, curricula, and activism in and around education endeavors.
The JFDE is committed to decolonizing and disrupting oppressive, deficit and racist ideologies by focusing on work that prioritizes schools, families, communities, scholars, and activists seeking to establish liberatory and humanized spaces.
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Journal of Family Diversity in Education (JFDE)
Winter 2024 Issue 2 Vol 6
How can we build and foster better and more significant relationships? Using a framework grounded in research, Tim Vogt and Danyetta Najoli from Starfire in Cincinnati, and Jill Mays from PSU in Lebanon, OH, shared some thoughts, laughs, experiences, and recommendations for creating and supporting meaningful engagements, intentional connections, and stronger and more inclusive communities. This conversation was originally recorded as part of the 2022 Innovation Series, developed by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities and OCALI.
Download Episode 24 Transcript.
OCALI works to inspire change and improve access for people with disabilities. It helps people with disabilities live their best lives at school, at home, at work, and in the community. OCALI connects people, families, and partners, and its trusted, high-quality resources are used far beyond Ohio.
Danyetta served as a member of the Extended Team at the U-Lab at the Presencing Institute in 2021. We applied Social Presencing Theater (SPT) to the Art of Social Change to partner with thousands of people with intellectual disabilities who are developing innovative ways to thrive in their own communities and communities of interest. We prototyped new forms of mutual engagement that addressed the concerns of people with disabilities, their direct-support care workers, and family members. Theory U practices and the Social Arts were woven throughout the initiatives. See the 2021 Annual Report, page 19, for more details.
Some of Our Clients
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