Follow the Money

Report Details

What is Past Present Future Consulting & Media LLC?

On June 17, 2021, Katy Swalwell registered Past Present Future Consulting & Media, LLC, based in Des Moines, Iowa, with the Iowa Secretary of State, according to the company’s official filing.

The contracts documented here include the company’ s consultants: Swalwell and Daniel Spikes. In some cases, the contracts are made with the individual consultants, not the company, Past Present Future Consulting & Media, LLC. Swalwell also works with another “equity warrior,” Paul Gorski.

In her bio, Swalwell noted that, as a lead equity specialist for the Equity Literacy Institute, she has “facilitated workshops, helped develop curriculum, and provided other supports for schools across the United States and Canada.” She cohosts a podcast, “Our Dirty Laundry,” which she describes as an “irreverent dive into about the history of white women’s complicity in white supremacy.” She describes the podcast as “Stories of White Ladies Making a Mess of Things & How We Need to Clean Up Our Act.” The official website invites listeners, saying, “Join two longtime white lady friends as they reckon with the history of white women with humor and rage…​and figure out what it means for their obligations today.”

What services does Past Present Future Consulting & Media LLC offer?

On her website, Swalwell promotes the “Spikes & Swalwell Consulting Team,” noting she “works closely with Dr. Daniel Spikes to co-facilitate sustained professional development on critical consciousness, implicit bias, and instructional, curricular, and structural changes to work towards equity and justice in education.” 

“Rates are on a sliding scale,” she notes, adding, “Katy and Daniel are typically available for booking 6-9 months out.”

In her testimonials, Swalwell included Christiane Connors, who is director of service and civic engagement at the Burke School in Washington, D.C., according to an online bio. Connors said, “For two years, our school contracted with Dr. Swalwell as we made social justice education more central to our students’ learning. It was the best decision we could have made. Dr. Swalwell’s research expertise in social justice teaching and learning in elite schools combined with her innate ability to engage faculty, staff, school leaders, and parents made her invaluable to the process.”

The team also had an endorsement from Eric Howard, an official at the Iowa Association of School Boards, stating, “Their research-based sessions provided our group with a solid foundation from which we can build our equity work.”

What K-12 work has Past Present Future Consulting & Media LLC done? 

Daniel Spikes and Katy Swalwell ​K-12 work

Iowa

Ames Community School District, Ames, Iowa

• Multi-year professional development, “building capacity for educators’ critical consciousness and producing equity audit reports.”
• 2017: Ames Community School District officially entered into a three-year commitment with Iowa University professors Daniel Spikes and Katy Swalwell for “Critical Consciousness training for staff.”
• In August 2017, Spikes and Swalwell hired.
• In mid-December 2017, the Ames Tribune wrote about the efforts. 
• 2018: In “Critical Consciousness: Year Two,” the school district expanded staff participation.
• August 2018: Over 50 Ames staff attended a conference, “Summit and School Culture and Climate.”
• August 2018: Guest speaker Paul Gorski addressed teachers at a  kick-off breakfast.
• 2019: Director of Equity hired.
• Sept. 30, 2019, @ACSD_News tweeted out photos of training with the message, “Today, over 130 teachers and staff engaged in critical consciousness training with Dr. Katy Swalwell and Dr. Daniel Spikes. The conversations are always rich and challenging with the outcomes impacting all of our students. #AmesCSD”
• 2019: Equity audit for Ames High and Ames Middle School conducted.
• 2019: Amazing Education Podcast with Dr. Katy Swalwell on Critical Consciousness. Part I. Part II.
• 2019 “Building Capacity Teams” formed.
• 2020: “Critical Consciousness: Year Three” occurred with “over 150 staff members” who “participated in monthly professional development.”
• 2020: Building-level teams formed, with Ames High School staff “participating in implicit bias training.”
• 2020: Weekly administrative meetings start with equity learning.
• 2020: “Critical Consciousness class” taught at Ames Middle School.
• 2021: “Critical Consciousness Family Learning Series” launch.  LGBTQ+ professional development training. 
• 2021: Amazing Education Podcast with Dr. Anthony Jones on racial inequity. Part I. Part II.
• 2021: “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action” launched.

Clear Creek Amana School District, Iowa

Year-long book club for school board and executive leadership team to “develop critical consciousness.”

Katy Swalwell work:

K-12 School Districts

District of Columbia

Edmund Burke School, Washington D.C.

Led multi-year professional development “focused on school-wide anti-oppressive curriculum and pedagogy.”

Sheridan School, Washington D.C.

Led multi-year professional development “focused on teaching about economic inequality with young learners.”

Iowa

Ankeny Community School District, Ankeny, Iowa

The school district announced in early June 2021 that Swalwell would be teaching a free virtual class about “anti-Black racism in Iowa”

Other Work: 

• ​Iowa Department of Human Services and Juvenile Court System: Two-day workshops “focused on implicit bias and history of anti-Black racism in Iowa.”
• Keystone Area Education Agency: Day-long workshops “introducing equity.”
• Mason City Police Department, Mason City, Iowa: Two-day workshops “focused on implicit bias and history of anti-Black racism in Iowa.”

Swalwell other work: 

• Alliant Energy – led corporate staff workshops focused on implicit bias and local history 
• Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute – co-facilitated The 1619 Project curriculum workshops for 500+ community leaders