- Cornel West
This week in DC, American Humanics and Nonprofit HR Solutions are hosting a panel discussion called Who’s Got Next? Addressing the Leadership Crisis Among African-American Nonprofit Organizations. If you’re in town, I highly recommend you attend this important conversation about the leadership issues facing nonprofits serving communities of color. It will be interesting to hear the views of representatives from the NAACP, Urban League, Kellogg Foundation, Girl Scouts, and Annie E. Casey Foundation. My role on the panel is to provide the perspective of an emerging leader, and I hope to be able to shed some light on our views on this subject. In light of my preparation for this discussion, this week Perspectives From the Pipeline will focus solely on African American nonprofit leadership. You will hear commentary about the current state of affairs, responses to assumptions on this topic, and get introduced to some awesome established and emerging leaders of color doing great work in the sector.
Some of the questions to be taken up at this week’s panel include:
The nonprofit sector is lagging behind in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce. What has worked in your organizations, what hasn’t worked, and why?
What can we do to attract more African-Americans to the nonprofit sector and what can we do to keep them once they’ve made that decision?
What are your organizations doing to cultivate African-American leadership within your ranks? If any member of Senior Management were to leave your organization today – either voluntarily or involuntarily – what mechanisms are in place to ensure that you have diverse pool of candidates, including African Americans, to fill these positions?
Share what your organization is doing to positively impact the issue of African-American leadership within your organizations (Board, Sr. Management, Mid-Management.)
Stay tuned! I hope you will join the conversation – what are your thoughts on these issues?
