After years of working for both public and private universities, Jody Shipper and Cherie Scricca identified a common challenge: many institutions were struggling with Title IX and Equity cases, often resulting in excessive legal fees.

In response to this pressing issue, Project IX was founded in 2014 as a non-profit organization with a mission to assist all educational entities in fulfilling their legal obligations and advancing gender and equity objectives, regardless of a school’s financial capacity.

Jody and Cherie raised funds and traveled nationwide to help schools address these challenges. Through consulting, training, policy refinement, and coordinator and resolution services, they aimed to empower institutions to achieve self-sufficiency and effectively meet the unique needs of their communities.

Jerome Behar, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur,  confronted by the alarming reports of sexual assault and harassment plaguing campuses, felt compelled to act. As a natural problem-solver, he was determined to address the issue, advocating for increased save guards and refined protocols, provided the right expertise and systems were in place. In 2017, his quest led him to Cherie and Jody and Project IX.

Cassio Conceicao, a fellow tech executive known for his achievements with start-ups, joined Jerry, Jody, and Cherie to form Grand River Solutions. Central to their endeavor was collecting a team of working practitioners and proven experts plus the development of software systems that would establish vital checks and balances. For example, preventing the loss of crucial data would help ensure a Title IX and equity system that is both responsive and transparent; it would mean that people and their cases would no longer get lost, forgotten, or mismanaged.

By the fall of 2019, we held our first conference in Southern California, hosting some of the premiere national experts in the field with sessions on Title IX, Clery Act, and Equity.

Via word-of-mouth recommendations, Grand River Solutions grew quickly with a full-time staff of eleven adventurous professionals, willing to leave their secure academic jobs and take a risk on a new company.

2020 brought the pandemic and a host of complex regulations. Institutions now needed to navigate the new virtual world of educating and working with students and employees under vastly changing parameters. Grand River Solutions, forged by a coalition of seasoned practitioners intimately familiar with the daily work, embarked on a mission to pioneer novel approaches to advance the profession; to streamline processes for efficiency yet uphold respect for all the parties— be they complainants, respondents, administrators, and just as importantly, case managers.

The company and the amount of people we served continued to grow at a steady pace. By the conclusion of 2021, our team had expanded to 33 full-time staff members, and by the end of 2022, this number exceeded 85. Our efforts impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of students and employees across the country. Nationally recognized leaders in the field joined the team, bringing expertise in Title IX & equity policy, training, Clery, VAWA, ADA/504 and more.

Did we say we are proud of our people? Well, we can’t say it enough. We don’t just recruit thought leaders, we seek out thought expanders. How can we enhance our processes? How can we revolutionize the way we work? How do we support an innovatative mindset?

From developing new software to reorganizing the flow of the Title IX office and devising novel prevention strategies, our early years of growth have been marked by a big investment in the future. Our goal has been to look beyond current practices and push for answers that will inherently improve the system.