"I selfishly desire your liberation."

Coming up…

Lecture — An Unstoppable Force Met an Immovable Object: How Black Excellence Catalyses White Mediocrity | February 1, 2026 | Universalist Unitarian Church | 1030am-12pm

Lecture & Discussion — Race, Redlining, and Razing: Housing Discrimination and the Racial Wealth Gap | February 12, 2026 | Sloan Museum of Discovery | 5:30 PM–7:00 PM

A Note from Delma:
“I have been engaging in justice work for almost twenty years, and there is still so much I have to learn. However, I have always worked through the lens of Sankofa Philosophy.
Often symbolized by a mythical bird with its head turned backward and its feet firmly planted forward, the Akan people of West Africa used Sankofa to symbolize how the past lives with us in the present, serving as a guide for planning the future.
I'm passionate about justice, intersectionality, and vulnerability. Regardless of the justice-related topic, I'm excited to engage with participants. My passion allows me to draw on both research and the lived experiences of myself and others, which often proves instrumental in conveying complex ideas to participants who may be novices. Our personal stories provide the path to better connect with both the topic and our colleagues.
I strive to make the past feel like the present by avoiding pre-packaged conclusions regarding some of history's most impactful and controversial moments. I work to inspire participants to recognize their importance as change agents. I strive to push everyone while holding their hearts close.
We change when we recognize the need to and have the support to do so. This requires connection, compassion, accountability, story, and community.
I encourage tough, nuanced conversations, and I don't show up as the expert. I trust the brilliance of the room and the collective consciousness of those engaged in making the world a better place. I'd be honored to share that kind of space with you.”

IMPACT SNAPSHOT

15+ YEARS

Advancing social, racial, gender, and environmental justice across the United States

10,000 +

Workshops, retreats, trainings, lectures, and community conversations

300+

Engagements delivered across universities, government agencies, nonprofits, philanthropic institutions, and community organizations

150+

Workshops designed and facilitated on topics including racial equity, cultural humility, medical mistrust, environmental justice, sexuality, identity, and community healing

100+

Clients served one on one through health education, coaching, case support, and identity based learning environments

60+

Academic institutions and school based programs supported including Yale University, New York University, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and multiple K through 12 districts

45+

Keynotes, Retreats, and Community Dialogues cross generational
Cross-sector including Facing Race, NCORE, United States Conference on AIDS, The Nature Conservancy, Stakeholders Conferences, and National Educators Association

40+

Government and public health agencies advised including MDHHS, US Fish and Wildlife Service, City of Flint, and national HIV prevention conferences

20+

States impacted through in person and virtual facilitation, narrative strategy, and justice centered leadership development

8+

Strategic leadership in senior roles shaping narrative change, culture transformation, and justice frameworks for federal, state, and global partners

SERVICES

Every offering functions as a Continuum of Learning, Practice, and Transformation. Each stage builds upon the one before it, deepening understanding, strengthening capacity, and moving individuals and institutions toward sustained cultural change.

Lectures are intellectual grounding.
They center the mind while providing some emotionally charged content. They connect the past to the present–focusing heavily on origin stories and how they continue to shape the injustices we experience today.
Workshops are integrated processing.
They center the mind and body with a heavier emphasis on somatic (bodily) intelligence. Workshops can stand alone or build on the content presented in lectures. Workshops can be ready-made or co-customized with clients. Participants are invited to grapple with themes of justice and oppression through a light combination of community building tools via story, intellectual engagement, somatic intelligence, and interactive tools.
Retreats are deep dives in practice and planning.
They take a deeper dive into practices paired with short and long-term planning processes for groups and organizations. Workshop content is extended with more emphasis on community building, somatic awareness practices, and a greater focus on how your group or institution might often embody the very cultural practices it seeks to eradicate. Retreats provide space to assess personal and institutional norms, identify areas for growth, and consider the supports needed for institutional change in your organization.
Organizational culture change is embodiment.
It begins the work of shifting an institution closer to embodying the values they articulate. This process can take anywhere from 6 months to several years and typically includes 3 primary components:
Readiness: Is your organization ready to do what it’s signing up for? How far toward “justice” are they ready to move? What financial, temporal, societal, internal and external restraints exist?
Identifying decision makers, parameters, and timelines
An assessment of current policies and practices working with available staff across the organization toward identifying what's working well and areas of growth.
Co-creating what an “ideal” or “successful” transformation looks.
Assessing “readiness” for the organization to achieve that goal. Readiness includes a review of: timelines, budgets, tensions, potential opportunities, and restraints. This information is used to reexamine our notions of a “successful” intervention and, if necessary, reset expectations.
Intervention: The exact components of the intervention designed to bring about organizational change is co-created and works emergently as conditions shift.

BOOK A SERVICE

READY-MADE WORKSHOPS/LECTURES

Learn More

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?

Delma’s facilitation of our team workshop was outstanding. What set him apart was his ability to immediately build trust and create a space where everyone felt both heard and engaged. He didn’t just manage the flow of the agenda; he skillfully drew out perspectives from across the team, encouraged open dialogue, and kept us focused on our goals without ever feeling rigid or forced.

Darika Cease, Branch Chief, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Fairfax, VA
Delma’s delivery is disarming, engaging, and deeply connective. He has a gift for weaving humor, storytelling, and hard truths in a way that makes people feel safe enough to be challenged and inspired enough to stretch. Whether in a room of five or five hundred, he commands attention without demanding it; people lean in because they trust him. He creates spaces where curiosity thrives, where difficult conversations feel possible, and where learning is experienced, not just heard.

Shadiin Garcia, Think Shore Lines, NM/Costa Rica
Delma gave a virtual talk during the pandemic and it was so powerful I knew we had to bring him back in person. We brought him to the University of Vermont’s biggest annual symposium as the kickoff speaker. With a packed house, Delma delivered an extraordinary lecture that left people in awe, and far more educated than they were when they stepped into the room. Throughout the rest of the weeks symposium, we continued hearing people asking if we could bring him back to deliver a two day workshop so they could learn more from him.

Sandy Bermanzohn, Division of Intercultural Excellence, The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
Engaging speaker. He appears to have it all thought out and doesn’t refer to a prepared speech, and doesn't need to refer to his prepared speech, because he knows so well what he is going to say. He delivers his sermon as he stands/walks in front of his audience as though he is speaking individually to each person. He can take several different ideas from many different fields of study (theology, psychology, history, literature and all fields of science, and more) and tie them all together.

Ruth Straw, Member, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Flint, MI
Delma is an engaging, animated speaker, skilled at presenting complicated issues to general public, academic and religious audiences. His captivating presence and style move people to receive , reflect, and act upon the messages he presents.

Zoe Starkweather, Member, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Flint, MI
In my 80 years of existence, I think Delma may be the most brilliant educated person that I have ever known. He is also, perhaps, the most engaging speaker that I have ever heard. He integrates knowledge from all areas of study and you feel like he is talking just to you and explaining what he is speaking about pertains to your life.

John Straw, Member, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Flint, MI
It has been a deep honor to know and work with Delma over the past 12 years. His combination of courageous and vulnerable story-telling matched with rigorous research, humor, and deep care creates a context that tangibly shifts the dynamics in any room. A room full of strangers transforms into a room full of humans trying something different - humans willing to lean in, to do the work to learn from another's perspective, to share their own, and to be transformed in the process.

Kavitha Rao, Senior Fellow and Board Chair, Center for Whole Communities
Cambium Council, Wildseed Community Farm and Healing Village
Facilitator, Somatics of Money
I want to extend my sincere appreciation for the meaningful work you have brought to our school community. Your efforts in introducing Social Justice themes and best practices for our juniors, seniors, and Student Government have provided our students with valuable insights and tools to lead with empathy, equity, and awareness.

Anupa Shantaram, MA, ED. S. School Improvement Coordinator, Southwestern Classical Academy, Flint, MI

THE DIVE-IN-JUSTICE PODCAST

(W/ SHADIIN GARCIA & DELMA JACKSON)

SUMMARY

From systemic injustice to internalized oppression, apathy, and trauma, Shadiin Garcia, Delma Jackson, and guests will pull back the layers of struggle within social progress, and dream together, even as we remind one another that our personal tragedies, triumphs, and healing will inform our ability to create a better world. If you love the idea of building intentional community, If you love history and pop-culture, If you want to dream into a society where intersectionality is baked into the culture, The Dive-In-Justice POD is for YOU.