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What is Philip McAdoo Diversity and Inclusion Consulting LLC?

Philip McAdoo is an Atlanta-based “diversity, equity and inclusion” practitioner and self-described LGBTQ activist with an extensive background in consulting for K-12 independent schools and collaborating with the National Association of Independent Schools.

According to his website, McAdoo is the founder and chief operating officer of Philip McAdoo Diversity and Inclusion Consulting LLC. The company registered under the name of Philip McAdoo LLC with the Georgia Secretary of State in 2018. 

McAdoo is also the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for Earthjustice (formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund), a San Francisco-based enviornmental advocacy lawfirm whose initial funding was provided by the Ford Foundation.

As an LGBTQ activist, McAdoo has worked on the “Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign” for the Family Equality Council, which would require private faith-based adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples. He wrote the children’s picture book, “Every Child Deserves…” and testified to U.S. lawmakers when Rep. John Lewis introduced the “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” in 2013. Rep. Danny Davis reintroduced the bill on May 25, 2021.

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McAdoo is the former director of equity, justice, and community at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. According to his website, McAdoo formerly taught in the New York City public school system and is also a former performer, having appeared in the Broadway productions of “The Lion King” and “Rent,” readings of “The Book of Mormon” and “Wicked,” and other film and television work.

McAdoo holds a doctorate in education in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

What services does Philip McAdoo Diversity and Inclusion Consulting LLC provide?

In his work at Philip McAdoo Diversity and Inclusion Consulting LLC, McAdoo’s services include speaking engagements and workshops for “school leaders, teachers, and parents about building LGBTQ initiatives and supportive educational learning environments.” According to his website, McAdoo “honestly and openly discusses ‘coming out’ in a context that young people can understand, using wit and humor to reflect on his experiences as a black gay man, his transition from Broadway to education, and how he became a partner, dad, LGBTQ advocate, and little league coach.”

McAdoo spoke at the National Association of Independent Schools’s 2017 People of Color Conference on “building equity, justice and community for LGBTQ people of color in independent schools.” The purpose of his workshop was to train school leaders how to “create a strategic plan for initiatives that support LGBTQ people of color and educate administrators, teachers, and students in independent schools.” McAdoo wrote “What Does It Take To Be Truly Inclusive?” for the fall 2018 online issue of NAIS’s “Independent School Magazine.”

McAdoo is the author of Independent Queers, a book about LGBTQ educators working in independent schools, published by Mascot Booksin 2019. The book was endorsed by Rodney Glasgow, president of The Glasgow Group, a consulting group. He said: “In bringing us Independent Queers, Dr. McAdoo is offering us an unfiltered, clear look at the everyday lives of LGBTQ educators working in independent schools.”

What K-12 work has Dr. Philip McAdoo done?

Massachusetts

Milton Academy (private school)

According to its website, Milton Academy, an elite K-12 independent day and boarding school located in Milton, Massachusetts, has engaged McAdoo for “diversity, equity and inclusion” work. 

As the school’s “MLK Day Speaker” on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, McAdoo “spoke with the Milton community in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” 

On Jan. 25, 2022, McAdoo presented “the power of affinity groups” to the Milton community in the “first installment” of the school’s “new equity and inclusion speaker series.” McAdoo mentioned having helped Milton establish student affinity groups during 2021.

PENNSYLVANIA

The Haverford School (private school)

According to his social media, McAdoo spoke to The Haverford School on April 15, 2019, “in support of the day of silence, the annual day of action to spread awareness about the effects of the bullying and harassment of LGBTQ students.”

Other K-12 schools

Other K-12 school clients listed on McAdoo’s website include:

• Capitol Hill Day School, Washington D.C. area
• Chapel Hill – Chauncy Hall School, a boarding school in Massachusetts
• Episcopal High School, Washington D.C. area
• Sidwell Friends School, Washington D.C. area
• Strath Haven High School, a public school in Pennsylvania
• The Waldorf School of Atlanta, Georgia
• Woodward Academy, Georgia