Founders
Jason J. Dorsette
Jason is a PhD candidate in the College of Education Language, Educational Policy, and Equity program at Oregon State University. His research interest includes issues of access and equity in the context of higher education informed by race, gender, and the interconnectedness of other social identities. Jason serves as director of advancing academic equity initiatives, within the Educational Opportunities Program at Oregon State University. For over a decade, Jason has facilitated training and professional development opportunities aimed at increasing individual and collective knowledge and understanding around topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity with a specific focus on masculinity. Jason has served in leadership capacities regionally, nationally, and internationally in a number of higher education professional associations, and has contributed to book chapters and articles related to diversity education. Civically, Jason serves as the Vice President of the NAACP Corvallis-Albany branch, Board member for the City of Corvallis Imagine Corvallis Action Network (ICAN), Advisory Board member of the African American Youth Leadership Conference, and is on the executive leadership team of the Western Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Jonathan Stoll
Jonathan is the co-host of Soul Force Ones, a podcast interrogating professionalism and the workplace in a revolutionary way that explores the intersection of how Careers, Activism, Spirituality and Hip Hop (CASH), rules everything around us. Jonathan also serves as director of career education at Oregon State University, transforming practices, processes and policies that improve success outcomes for students of color, students who are first generation and students with high financial need. Within his 20 years as a trailblazer, thought leader, disruptor and “fixer” in higher education, Jonathan Stoll has leveraged his muttiracial and multi faith identities to deeply understand where individuals and organizations are coming from. Jonathan forges connections between people and resources. He has spearheaded organizational change and leadership development through an active resistance of the status quo, founding San Jose State University’s Cesar Chavez Community Action Center, transforming programming and equity, diversity and inclusion programming at Cal State East Bay, and designing an approach to community relations and neighborhood livability that facilitated collaborative partnerships to inspire Community Responsibility and Belonging and an improved relationship between Oregon State University and community stakeholders in Corvallis, OR.
Philosophy
We provide Diversity and Equity Strategic Planning and Leadership Development, Organizational Training and Educational Services, and Social change Research Gathering, Facilitation, and Analysis to help realize Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s vision of the beloved community. This only happens through change that inspires inclusive cultures and equitable policies.
We help people become agents of organizational and social change and “become the change they wish to seek.” We help leaders navigate challenging situations, empowering them and organizations to to manage change, respond to change, and drive institutional and individual change
Soulforce Associates are passionate about helping leaders unlock the strategic benefits of organizational equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Soul Force Education and Soul Force Leadership
Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr adopted Gandhi’s spiritual philosophy of Satyagraha (pursuit/force for truth), writing, ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force.”
SoulForce is not a matter of passively awaiting change. Rather, SoulForce requires action that’s centered by a search for, and determined adherence to, truth. SoulForce Education helps organizations and people realize their missions and tap into the deeper meaning of their work. SoulForce Education unlock organizational SoulForce. This is not passive acceptance of things as they are, but an active resistance of inequity that changes the status quo in search of equity, justice and truth so that innovation and risk taking is encouraged. It is the internal strength within us, and the courageous practice of resiliency and love which emanates from the center of our spirit and the organizations we lead. Organizations are more than a sum of its parts. Organizational culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its employees and the clients and customers it serves. SoulForce awakens people and organizations to the is concerned with the soul and inclusive culture of an organization.
The origin
Jonathan Stoll and Jason J. Dorsette both moved to Corvallis, Oregon and began working at Oregon State University in 2014. And while their work intersected from time to time, it wasn’t until 2019 that their leadership in the Corvallis community brought them together to realize a collective goal. Jason, Vice President of the NAACP Albany/Corvallis and Jonathan, member of the Corvallis King Legacy Advisory Board, rallied their local, Corvallis community in support of adequately funding a Corvallis Bias Response Initiative to prevent and respond to bias and hate in Corvallis.
When the unanimous vote came in from the Corvallis City Council to allocate $150,000 to fund the initiative, following the public and written testimony of over 60 Corvallis residents, I text Jason, “This is what democracy looks like.”
In the midst of engaging in dialogue with the Corvallis City Council around the possibilities, one councilor asked another person who was testifying about the need for such a position “How long had we been working on this initiative? How long have we been committed to this work?” Jason’s text to me (Jon) probably most accurately captured the truth – “My whole life.”
But it was after that small win in our local community that Jason and Jon truly realized the power of their voices and strength of the collective action they could inspire.
Jason and Jon, founders of Soul Force Education, have both worked in higher education for over 20 years. They both are committed to achieving Dr. King’s vision for a beloved community through soulful leadership that’s centered on the connections between people, the perseverance and amplitude of human resources and organizational change that’s centered by our commitment to helping organizations and people realize the essentialness of active engagement in equity, diversity and inclusion work.