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A Strategic Action Plan and Research ReportA NATIONAL URBAN FELLOWS INITIATIVE

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative

About National Urban Fellows ..................................................................1

Acknowledgements .................................................................................2

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative Introduction .................................3

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative Network ......................................6

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative Strategic Plan ............................. 12

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative Strategic Action Plan 2011-2015 ....... 14

Inclusive Leadership Model: An Individual and Organizational Imperative ............ 18

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative Summary .................................. 21

Call to Action Announcement 40th Anniversary Leadership Conference ................ 24

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative | 1

Mission

National Urban Fellows develops accomplished and courageous professionals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, particularly people of color and women, to be leaders and change agents in the public and nonprofit sectors, with a strong commitment to social justice and equity.

Vision

National Urban Fellows will be a premier leadership development organization and voice of authority on leadership diversity in our country. We will develop people of color and women who are committed to public service. Our programs and network of Fellows, Mentors, Alumni, and Community Partners will impact our nation by inspiring excellence and diversity in public service leadership for a changing America, promoting social justice and equity.

About National Urban Fellows

National Urban Fellows was founded at the height of the Civil Rights era, a time of

unending turbulence in cities across the nation. The country’s urban centers were in crisis as cities struggled to cope with pervasive violence and social unrest, the outcomes of years of social injustice. Communities throughout the U.S. were experiencing the results of discrimination, segregation, poverty, unemployment, poor housing, and police brutality.

The National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, confronted with the escalating civil disorder, began looking for solutions. In 1969, in partnership with The Ford Foundation, New Haven’s Community Action Institute, and Yale University, a program was designed to bridge the existing gap between city governments and minority communities.

The solution became National Urban Fellows (NUF). Founded in 1969, the NUF program provided local minority leaders with the education and experience needed to manage city governments. This groundbreaking approach gave individuals who had been traditionally underrepresented in the government sector the opportunity, visibility, and recognition necessary to manage programs intended to improve conditions in their communities while empowering leadership representative of their communities.

NATIONAL URBAN FELLOWS

Recognizing the need for leadership diversity in the nation’s future, in 1974 National Urban Fellows incorporated, becoming a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. Forty years later, National Urban Fellows is among the country’s most effective leadership development institutions for recruiting and training professional, mid-career women and people of color who will be among the leaders in the nation’s future communities.

Today, National Urban Fellows seeks to inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership, and continues to counter the underrepresentation of people of color and women in leadership. National Urban Fellows is one of the oldest leadership development organizations in the United States, and a premier voice of authority on leadership diversity for the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

The organization’s range of mid-career leadership development programs includes the 40-year-old MPA Fellowship, a 14-month program linking graduate-level academic training with a critical leadership experience in a large nonprofit or government agency; an Alumni program offering lifelong networking, career enhancement, and personal development opportunities; a Mentors’ network; and America’s Leaders of Change, a career acceleration program for leaders on the rise in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors.

National Urban Fellows develops the leadership for a changing America.

2 | Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative

National Urban Fellows Board of Directors

Floyd T. Johnson, Chair Northwest Community Redevelopment Agency Pompano Beach, FL

Tony Allen, Ph.D., Vice Chair Bank of America Wilmington, DE

Tay Yoshitani, Treasurer Port of Seattle Seattle, WA

Jacinta C. Gauda, Secretary Grayling New York, NY

Rita L. Garza Safe Horizon New York, NY

Flora Castillo AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies Philadelphia, PA

Miguel Centeno Aetna New York, NY

Nicole J. Jones Crystal Stairs, Inc. Los Angeles, CA

Lt. General Larry R. Jordan, U.S. Army (Ret.) Burdeshaw Associates, Ltd. Bethesda, MD

Anthony Kendall Mitchell & Titus New York, NY

Larry King DHA Washington, DC

Nina Martinez, EsquireEdgewood, NM

David E. Rivers Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, SC

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

National Urban Fellows102 West 38th Street, Suite #700New York, NY 10018212.730.1700 (phone)212.730.1823 (fax)www.nuf.org

John E. Saunders, III National Forum for Black Public Administrators Washington, DC

Lorraine Vega KeyBank Foundation Cleveland, OH

Elsa Vega-Pérez SotaRico Productions, LLC New York, NY

Sherece West, Ph.D. Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Little Rock, AR

Paula L. Gavin National Urban Fellows New York, NY

Staff

Paula L. Gavin President

Erica Acevedo Program Associate

Luisiana Baez Program Associate

Salome Begeladze Development and Administrative Associate

Justine-Valerie Carroll Director of Development

Miguel A. Garcia, Jr. Program Director

Renee D. Griffin Administrative Assistant

Bobbi Hahn Director of Operations

Jason Leon Alumni and Social Media Manager

Mohammad Levesque-Alam Leadership Diversity Network Coordinator

Angela E. Perry Director of Communications

Mohamed Soliman Program Coordinator

It is with gratitude that National Urban Fellows acknowledges the generous support from the

W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and JPMorgan Chase that made this Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative possible. We would also like to extend special appreciation to NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action’s Bethany Godsoe, Waad El-Hadidy and Sonia M. Ospina for their support of this Initiative; to our senior public service advisor Jeff Johnson, consultants, David Mensah and Monique Morris; and to our project advisors, Janet Corcoran and Sarah Lewis.

It is our sincere expectation that the Public Service Leadership Diversity movement will enhance and empower the lives of people of color to become the leaders and change agents of our country’s present and future.


In 2010, the critical findings of the National Urban Fellows 40th Anniversary research report,

Changing the Face of Public Service Leadership, prompted a national Call to Action, resulting in the National Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative (PSLDI).

The Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative is a national collaborative network of government and nonprofit leaders and organizations that will implement a campaign action plan, supporting the advancement of highly skilled leaders of color for public service leadership. The network of over 125 participating partners will work to create awareness of the need for leadership diversity and inclusion, while developing a pipeline of people of color who are prepared, ready, and waiting to attain leadership positions of influence and power.

The vision for the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative is to inspire diversity and excellence in public service.

Research Introduction

The Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU Wagner seeks to develop knowledge and capacity for leadership at all levels of organizations and across diverse sectors of society. Given this alignment with the National Urban Fellows’ goals, we are working to further the diversity agenda.

National Urban Fellows commissioned a review of the latest scholarship about leadership diversity in the United States, with a focus on public service. The goal of this review is to establish a broad and shared knowledge of the latest thinking about leadership diversity, establish a solid theoretical grounding for the NUF initiative and produce actionable recommendations for public service leadership development programs, advocates concerned with diversity issues and public and nonprofit institutions seeking to build leadership diversity within their organizations.

What follows are excerpts from Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion: Insights from Scholarship by the Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU Wagner.

Overview

Despite many years of efforts to diversify organizations, people of color remain significantly underrepresented in public service leadership positions. This results partly from structural barriers that hinder the professional advancement of people of color and partly from organizations’ varying success with diversity efforts. That people of color are not well represented in positions of power is also a reflection of a dominant

PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY INITIATIVE INTRODUCTION

1 Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay? Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-244.

leadership paradigm in which the experience of diverse leaders is largely marginalized.

Conclusions

Mixed Empirical Findings

There is a recognized need to do more empirical work, especially to unpack how efforts to foster diversity impact the organization and its members. The extant empirical work is rich yet very mixed. Herring (2009)1 summarizes this range well by noting that one perspective finds value in diversity and argues that a diverse workforce produces better bottom-line results. Another perspective is skeptical of the benefits and argues that diversity can be counterproductive due to increased conflict. A third, paradoxical view suggests that greater diversity is associated with more group conflict and better performance. This is possible because diverse groups are more prone to conflict, but conflict forces them to go beyond the easy solutions common in like-minded groups.

Acknowledging that some research has found negative results from diversity initiatives does not mean abandoning the case for diversity altogether. The little empirical work that has been done is itself limited to one-off cases, to


its responsive capacity and ability to embrace paradox—all characteristics of an adaptive and nimble organization.

Some Progress in Diversity, but Not in Leadership

There is some evidence that a broad swath of public agencies has embarked on some kind of diversity initiative and that there has been an improvement in numbers. There is also documentation that there has been an improvement in diversity in the business sector. We know anecdotally that leadership in the nonprofit sector is more diverse than in the for-profit world. Yet more comprehensive research is needed to confirm this, and generally the research has tended to focus less on leadership and more on workforces. It should be stressed that a key question in assessing equity within any sector is the extent to which leadership positions are equally distributed among members of different groups.

Nonprofit Research Largely Missing

Although the general scholarly literature on diversity is limited, that explicitly addressing the nonprofit sector is virtually non-existent. The references that do tackle diversity within the nonprofit sector are mostly non-academic. RCLA scholars do not have an explanation for this gap, but can arrive at an inkling of an answer when we look at some of the reasons why there is some research in the public and business sectors. In the 90s, there was a push for equal opportunity employment in government agencies. In the business sector, it may well be that businesses were lured by the “case” for diversity, or were trying to avoid costly affirmative action litigations or both. In either case, there was a driver for public and business organizations to undertake diversity initiatives, which in turn, attracted research about the efficacy of such initiatives. Similar drivers seem to be missing in the nonprofit world.

analyzing secondary data from existing surveys rather than designing original research, or to analyzing perceptual data generated from people’s opinions and using those as the basis for determining success or failure. It is hard to say why diversity led to negative outcomes in those cases. It could be that the initiative was poorly executed or conceived, or the organization got diversity wrong, to name a few of the contributing factors. The point is, much more research is needed to unpack why in some instances diversity led to negative results.

There is No One-Size-Fits-All

What the mixed results suggest is that organizations are struggling to deal with or leverage diversity without any assurances of positive outcomes. There is no one size that fits all—doing diversity well is precisely the complex kind of work that requires leadership rather than management solutions. Scholars claim that organizations that “do (racial) diversity” well are better positioned to deal with the multiple forms of diversity that face organizations today.

Shifting Landscape of Terms

Scholars seem to be anxious about presenting the next silver bullet, as reflected in the shifting landscape of terms—from equal opportunity to affirmative action, from discrimination-and-fairness to integration-and-learning, from representation to diversity, and, as some will argue, from diversity to inclusion. Scholars suggest that what has been tried by organizations is not enough—what is needed is a more integrated system, more commitment from leadership, more holistic approaches—all of which can benefit from testing.

Equipping People AND Organizations

While it is important to equip leaders of color with the skills to make an impact, it is also important to equip organizations to leverage diversity.

People of color may be fantastic leaders, but they may still encounter various ceilings if their organizations and systems do not create the environment to welcome their contributions. Organizations also need support to be better able to harness diversity. While the literature does not directly address the need to tackle multiple levels— individuals, organizations and systems, it is implicit that it is high time to consider these levels in tandem. For example, the literature has traditionally looked at networks as individual phenomena—that people of color are cut off from the professional networks that connect them to work. More recent work is acknowledging networks as organizational phenomena too. So, even if people of color have access to professional networks, organizations can still limit opportunities for people of color if they do not encourage hiring through such networks.

The critical discourse literature reminds us that while different races bring different perspectives, it is important not to caricature or stereotype people of color. Doing so can perpetuate tokenism and stereotypical behavior as well as heighten a sense of “othering.” There is a fine balance between honoring difference and boxing people into social categories that serve as predictors of their behavior.

Diversity and Organizational Adaptability

More recent literature is calling for a shifting of the case of diversity from a market imperative to an understanding that racial diversity is only one reflection of the increasingly complex environment in which organizations need to operate. The argument is that diversity presents an opportunity for an organization to practice the skills needed to deal with volatility. An organization that can maximize the power of racial diversity can in turn adapt to all the different forms of diversity, increasing

INTRODUCTION continued


Commentary: Convergences, Divergences and Gaps in the Literature

The literature RCLA reviewed can be sliced a different way. There are two bodies of work, one of which lies at the intersection of race and leadership, looking at race as a social identity. This mainly characterizes RCLA’s own work on the topic. The other broad category is concerned with creating and leveraging diversity (Eagly and Chin, 2010).2 An interesting pattern was found on both fronts. The Ospina and Foldy (2009)3 work suggests that despite interesting and nuanced developments in the field of leadership, scholarly work on race remains separate from the mainstream leadership tradition, which renders western perspectives and “whiteness” the default categories to measure leadership. In fact, an article by DiTomaso and Hoojberg (1996)4 argues critically that the shortfall of race in the leadership literature is in part due to current models of leadership replete with implicit theories that sanction and perpetuate inequality. There is also a gap in the diversity literature. While the leadership literature does not adequately explore or acknowledge race, the diversity literature seldom explores leadership. The predominant concern is with creating a “diverse workforce” rather than diverse leadership.

What these two gaps suggest is that there is much room for progress in both academic worlds of “diversity” and “leadership.” Changing the discourse on diversity entails doing more empirical research that puts forth the voices and experiences of leaders of color, consciously exploring the connection between diversity and leadership. If NUF rightly seeks to shift leaders of color in public service from access to influence to power, then it follows that the academic literature, which in many cases offers an authoritative voice in policymaking, should look more closely at diversity in leadership, not just in numbers.

Main Convergences

• Scholars generally support the notion that diversity presents an opportunity for organizations to excel, as well as an imperative to adapt to changing demographic conditions. None of the references reviewed makes a counterclaim to diversity creation, even when findings do not support a positive link between diversity initiatives and performance.

• Scholars also agree that representativeness alone, marked by increases in the number of people of color in organizations, is not enough. There is a call for more integrated systems that go beyond recruitment.

Main Divergences

• Scholars agree to disagree about the impact of diversity initiatives. Findings about the link between diversity and certain performance outcomes are extremely mixed. It is a well accepted premise among scholars that much more empirical work needs to be done to better establish causal connections.

2 Eagly, A.H., & Chin, J.L. (2010). Diversity and leadership in a changing world. American Psychologist, 65(3), 216-244. 3 Ospina, S., & Foldy, E.G. (2009). A Critical Review of Race and Ethnicity in the Leadership Literature: Surfacing Context, Power and the Collective Dimensions of Leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(6), 876-896. 4 DiTomaso, N., & Hoojberg, R. (1996). Diversity and the demands of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(2), 163-197.

• While scholars are pro-diversity, they differ about the case for it. The case for diversity ranges from the instrumental (it is the market imperative) to the moral (it is the right thing to do), and these arguments are not always combinable. Some think that adopting an instrumental reasoning actually detracts from the case for diversity.

• Scholars differ on the level of individual attention that organizations should give in order to foster and leverage diversity. Some argue that organizations should pay attention to each and every individual in order to unleash their full potential. Others believe in respecting diversity without dwelling too much on the differences, and establishing a collective identity or superordinate goal that takes priority over individual identity.

Next Steps

National Urban Fellows, in partnership with the Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU Wagner, will expand research on the individual, organizational and systemic issues impacting the development and advancement of leadership diversity.


PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY INITIATIVE NETWORK

Launched in 2010 and inspired by the vision of National Urban Fellows, the Public Service

Leadership Diversity Initiative set out to enlist a national collaborative network of public service leaders and organizations that would work to create an awareness of the need for leadership diversity and implement an action plan to develop public service leaders who reflect the changing face of America.

Network

National Organizations

American Society for Public Administration

Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy

Baruch College School of Public Affairs

Brookings Institution

Center for American Progress

Citizen Schools

City Year

Civic Enterprises

Council on Foundations

Girl Scouts of the USA

Girls Inc.

Independent Sector

Joint Center for Economic and Social Policy

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc.

Leadership Learning Community

Mobilize.org

NAACP

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

National Forum for Black Public Administrators

National Hispana Leadership Institute

National League of Cities

National Urban Fellows

National Urban League

NYU Wagner Research Center for Leadership in Action

OCA

Public Allies

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

United Way Worldwide

YMCA of the USA

Regional Organizations

• Atlanta, GA

Atlanta Braves

Families First

Fulton County

Future Foundation, Inc.

Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

Girls Inc.

Hassan Deadwyler, LLC

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

Our House

State Representative of Georgia

Teach for America

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

United Sikhs

United Way of Atlanta

It is essential that our public servants and civic volunteer leadership are representative of our communities. It is through mentorship, awareness, and opportunity that more of this will happen. It is important that this consciousness and effort be enhanced within and outside of our minority communities. Sergio Gonzales University of Miami

We will not be able to compete in the global economy without taking advantage of all our human capital, ensuring all people participate at all levels into the future. Gary L. Cunningham Northwest Area Foundation


• Chicago, IL

Chicago United

Institute for Latino Progress

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Public Allies

The Chicago Community Trust

U.S. Department of Housing

• Los Angeles, CA

100 Black Men of Los Angeles, Inc.

Asian Professional Exchange

City of Beverly Hills

City of Carson

City of Los Angeles

City of Lynwood

Draper Consulting Group

Hispanas Organized for Political Equality

Korean Churches for Community Development

Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board

Nestlé, USA

Southern California Association of Governments

Southern California Leadership Network

The Boeing Company

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation

University of California, Los Angeles

University of Southern California

• Philadelphia, PA

Artists and Musicians of Latin America

City of Philadelphia

Health Promotion Council

Knight Foundation

Philadelphia Water Department

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Trujillo Rodriguez & Richards, LLC

United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania

YMCA of Philadelphia & Vicinity

• Seattle, WA

Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Against Tobacco

City of Seattle

City Year Seattle

King County

Nonprofit Assistance Center

Office of the Lieutenant Governor

Office of Seventh Congressional District

Port of Seattle

Seattle City Light

Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Seattle School District

Seattle University

Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle

Washington Minority Business Enterprise Center (MBEC)

WASITRAC

YMCA of Greater Seattle

• Miami, FL

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami

Catalyst Miami

City of Miami

City Year Miami

EcoAdepts, Inc.

Emerge USA

Genuine Insights Inc.

Health Council of South Florida

Health Foundation of South Florida

Miami Herald Media Company

Office of 18th Congressional District

The Miami Foundation

United Way of Miami

University of Miami

Village of Key Biscayne Community Center

• Detroit, MI

Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services

ArtServe Michigan

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Council of Michigan Foundations

Detroit Public Television

Detroit Regional Chamber

Focus: HOPE

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit

Let’s Save Michigan

Michigan Nonprofit Association

Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion

New Detroit

State of Michigan, Dept. of Civil Rights - Women’s Commission

The Skillman Foundation

YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit

• New York, NY

A Better Chance

City Year New York

Community of Unity

Coro New York

Council of Urban Professionals

Girl Scouts Nassau County

Global Kids

Hispanic Federation, Inc.

Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc.

Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

New York Foundation for the Arts

NYC Dept. of Youth and Community Development

PENCIL

Public Allies New York

Reach Out and Read

The After-School Corporation

The First American Corporation

United Way of New York City

Upwardly Global


train the next generation of passionate, committed, risk-taking leaders to ensure and support their ongoing commitment to public service leadership, even when the work is challenging and the personal rewards are limited.

The group considered the essential tasks of creating effective value propositions for emerging leaders, to ensure that the strongest leaders are attracted and committed to leading in the public service arena. They noted the competing interest of for-profit organizations but affirmed that strong leaders could and would be attracted to public service given effort and focus to match their abilities with a clearly articulated community need.

Finally, the group noted the necessity of essential system change, both at the public policy level and at the organizational level, with public education being used as an example. They noted that teachers must be held up as true models of public service leadership so that young people will be raised to value leadership for the common good.

The Atlanta Public Service Leadership Diversity Summit pledged to work locally and as part of the national network to address opportunities for emerging community leaders.

n Chicago, IL

Twenty-two public service leaders gathered on June 10, 2010, thoughtfully challenging one another to remember that a call to public leadership diversity may also be a collective call to stand against the persistent and sometimes hidden roots of institutional and internal racism.

The group began the discussion with a call for collaboration and partnership and to embrace the concept of “ally” to describe partners in the work, who may not share the same cultural experience but who could stand side by side

National Summit

The Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative (PSLDI) launched a national leadership diversity campaign with a summit held in Washington, DC on April 21, 2010, challenging an invited group of national leaders to introduce themselves by making a “Case for Action” for Public Service Leadership Diversity. The leaders represented private nonprofit organizations as well as city, state and federal government.

The goals for the National Summits were to:• Identify a clear case for action• Clarify a compelling vision • Identify challenging goals and

strategies • Develop an action plan consistent

with changing the face of public service leadership by the year 2050.

The National Summits produced a clear Vision Statement and the first draft of an action plan that would be tested, explored, and expanded at the regional summits that were to follow. Leaders present committed to provide guidance, oversight, and support as the Initiative moved from dynamic conversation to action and implementation. The PSLDI returned to work with the National Summit participants on three separate occasions where they provided further guidance, input, and support for the ongoing summits.

Regional Summits

The National Summits were followed by a series of regional summits convened by National Urban Fellows with network participants across the country from May – November, 2010:

n Atlanta, GA

Twenty-eight public service leaders gathered on May 17, 2010, voicing a collective call to action to improve human leadership capital. The group emphasized that we need to nurture and

NETWORK continued

The challenges that hold back our nation from being the “more perfect union” of our founders’ dreams—poverty, inequality, ignorance, and injustice—will not be met until we harness the talent of every person who has something to contribute. To undervalue the leadership contributions that public service leaders of color are prepared to make, given the right preparation, support, and opportunity, is to sell short the very people whose knowledge, understanding, and efforts can bridge the gaps that divide us.

Louis CalderaSenior Fellow, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

It is important to recognize that while many organizations are diverse, most are not inclusive. We must commit to growing organizations at the top-level by casting a wider net to include people of color at all leadership levels. When we see people who look like us in key leadership roles, we know that one day we can achieve that same position of leadership. Having people of color in leadership roles in public service also enables those organizations to support initiatives regarding civil rights and social justice. A 2008 study showed that of all the grant-making organizations in the country, less than 1% fund civil rights and social justice organizations. Thomas Costello Michigan Roundtable


holding a vision of strength in diversity and working together to achieve that leadership goal. Participants stressed how established leaders might expand the pool of leadership resources by sharing their leadership opportunities and acknowledging the contributions of others in their own individual successes.

Participants also noted that youth must be supported to prepare themselves to step forward and assume the leadership opportunities as they are presented to them. This preparation included the well-recognized path of education as well as exposure to the forms and structures of leadership that many communities do not know about and therefore do not see as possible. Leaders noted the importance of mentoring youth, bringing them to visit the “halls of leadership” and to exposing them to leaders of color in every possible leadership setting in the public and private sectors.

Chicago leaders promised to focus on board placement, local mentoring for government careers, and cross-cultural sharing.

n Los Angeles, CA

Twenty-six leaders gathered in Los Angeles on June 17, 2010, to explore the possibility and process of expanding diversity in both public and private leadership settings.

Speaking based on their experiences of living and working within the incredible diversity of the Los Angeles community, leaders talked about the history of public service leadership diversity in Los Angeles and how this informed their view of a possible future. The leaders first focused on the opportunity of private industry leadership diversity, and how the profit motive would ultimately drive a diverse leadership outcome.

The business case for excellence in public service leadership diversity would have to include the data and evidence of

how it improved financial outcomes and other indicators of for-profit business success. Similarly, leaders discussed how essential it is for leadership diversity to be a structural outcome based on the inclusion of formal and informal structures that would consistently lead to diverse leadership. Examples of this included evaluation standards for senior leaders that stressed their ability to provide mentoring and other supports within their departments designed to build the ability of all employees.

Consequently the Los Angeles group considered taking on the following regional projects: cross-sector leadership development among and within immigrant groups, expanding the practice of mentoring and networking, and utilizing some of the best practices available, such as those of the National City Managers Program, which has a great record of networking success but is challenged to increase its own diversity.

n Philadelphia, PA

Twenty-five public service leaders gathered on September 21, 2010. This summit described the challenge to create a compelling message designed as a call to action to diverse leaders, individuals, and organizations charged with recruiting and hiring diverse leaders.

Summit leaders focused on the opportunity and value of the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative as the vehicle capable of transforming the way we solve persistent challenges at all levels of community organizations (local, state, and national).

The summit focused on the need for broadly expanded leadership training provided within the highest levels of government and nonprofit organizations, aimed at potential high-level managers to ensure their advancement within the sector and limit their loss to private industry.

The bravado of heroic leadership has gotten us into trouble as a society. It has been our downfall in multiple arenas, from foreign affairs to financial services. The time has come to find a new model that will advance our nation toward greater opportunity and prosperity. Leadership diversity is that new model.

Leadership diversity is not about getting new faces into old roles. It is about radically shifting our understanding and practice of leadership. It is about opening ourselves to the possibility that effective leadership can take many forms and look very different from one context to the next. It is about taking up the work of leadership as a collective endeavor that taps the talents of people at all levels of organizations and across all sectors of society. Creating this openness to new forms of leadership both demands and supports the advancement and contributions of previously underrepresented groups, from people of color to women to young people.

As we seek to promote leadership diversity in our national discourse and practice of leadership, we must get past our pursuit of getting past our differences. Finding common ground is not the way forward. It is the way to limit our possibilities. Let’s use this call to action to lift up our differences and make them known. Let’s start living in the tensions those differences create. Let’s work with our differences to produce breakthroughs in how we take up the work of public service leadership. Bethany Godsoe Executive Director, Research Center for Leadership in Action, NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service


The Philadelphia summit focused on public service leadership potential right now, starting with valuing and respecting cultural differences without requiring individuals to act as summary spokespersons for their respective cultural categories. The vision that emerged again and again in Philadelphia was a one of value and benefit drawn from the weaving together of different strands without the loss of the individual perspectives particular to each strand. The common denominator of this vision of inclusion is a profound commitment to the common good.

Finally, this summit brought a keen awareness of the historical precedents that have produced our collective culture, and the need to understand our history as we move forward to create a more inclusive future.

The Philadelphia leaders pledged to work locally on the issues of succession planning and intergenerational leadership circles.

n Seattle, WA

Thirty public service leaders gathered on October 28, 2010, to develop their case and action areas to inspire diversity and inclusion. Former Mayor Norm Rice and summit participants emphasized the goal “to see your face among all groups.”

The Seattle summit focused on youth development and cross-cultural experiences as essential needs to prepare the pipeline for the future. Participants analyzed institutional racism and the need for systems analysis to identify needs and solutions for inequities. The summit group challenged all to understand the effects of structural racism and bringing that understanding to the table when creating policy.

Summit leaders asserted the need to break down stereotyping, fear of political consequences, and marginalization. Another priority is to abandon the biggest barrier of all, the notion that

we are fundamentally separate and must therefore organize to defend that separation. Diversity and inclusion must become a public service leadership mindset and be infused into every vision and strategy.

Finally, this summit raised awareness of the global marketplace and the positive potential of diversity on our competitiveness.

Seattle leaders pledged to work locally to examine private and public opportunities for youth development and cross-cultural awareness. They also pledged to work on interagency collaboration on budget calls to ensure equity and meeting needs of the underserved, and renewing impact.

n Miami, FL

An inclusive cohort of seasoned leaders gathered in Miami on November 1, 2010, to explore the opportunity of public service leadership diversity. Hosted by the Knight Foundation, the Miami summit characterized itself by participants’ experience and well-practiced approach to the challenges of public service leadership that extend beyond diversity.

Challenged by the persistent experience of diverse leadership deadlocked through their exclusionary choice to represent only their own constituents, Miami leaders quickly deepened the conversation to discuss the need for inclusion, excellence, and integrity. The consensus was clear that without a commitment to leadership with integrity and the broadest sense of inclusion, diverse leadership alone will not succeed.

The action areas Miami took on were as follows: convene cross-cultural and intergenerational leadership groups to assess Miami’s low ranking in civic engagement, seek a common goal (i.e. education), involve universities in research and data collection, and create an action plan to improve rating and impact of improved civic engagement

NETWORK continued

Diversity is a necessity for any industry or sector that intends to be successful in a 21st century global economy. Power is not defined by a homogenous representation. True power should derive from the singular idea that has the capacity to unite and empower all people. Our influence in society is not solely measured by output but by process as well. How we do things is equally important. Joel Alvarado Policy Director, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

The case for diversity and inclusion is made by the billions and billions of dollars being invested in public service solutions that are not netting results—the critical missing piece is the active substantive role of diverse individuals (communities of color and people of color) in decision-making roles. Excellence in public service leadership diversity necessitates the creation of a collective vision around diverse, community-routed and -owned processes and solutions. Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez Hispanic Federation


n Detroit, MI

Focused, determined, committed and thoughtful: this was the tenor of the conversation around the table of the public service leaders who participated in the Detroit Public Service Leadership Diversity Summit on November 5, 2010.

Absolutely convinced that effective decisions are only possible with diverse leadership participation, this cohort of community leaders explored the many avenues possible and necessary to make sure everyone has a voice.

Detroit participants emphasized that the power of the invitation must be used and that communities would respond and participate if they were invited by someone who had true respect within the community. Second, they noted that it was important go to communities directly and meet in churches, coffee shops, private homes, and community centers. Third, they noted that young people must be educated about their civic responsibility and that “civic literacy,” including real life experiences of the policy-making and legislative process, must be prioritized.

In Detroit, leaders stressed their existing best practices in developing public and private partnerships and including business in the process of defining and implementing effective solutions. They also emphasized the need for effective leaders to speak with moral and ethical authority and to show a deep personal commitment to all people (beyond their specific cultural affiliation). When leaders are diverse and ethical they provide solid examples, and young people will automatically aspire to such leadership positions.

The Detroit network pledged to work on the case for inclusive leadership with their own critical local influencers.

n New York, NY

Beginning with a challenge to pay attention to the impact of language, the New York City Public Service Leadership Diversity Summit on November 8, 2010,

explored the opportunities and challenges in public service leadership. Focusing on diversity as an “imperative,” the leaders challenged one another to expand this challenge beyond diversity at the top. The focus was on the lost opportunity when leaders at all levels are not included in the efforts to solve or resolve the issues we are facing.

The New York network focused on how diversity helps business success at all levels. Diverse organizations survive economic shifts successfully; diversity provides a multitude of perspectives, and innovative thinking abounds in organizations that have embraced diversity as an institutional mindset. Further noting that leadership must be exemplary, they stressed accountability as a key component of diverse leadership success, and the need to support structures that hold leaders accountable.

In general, the group noted that diversity and inclusion must become a common practice that is a natural and expected part of every issue and initiative. Everyone must understand that to foster world change, core beliefs, core customs, and cultures must also change, noting again the example that mentoring must be conceptualized as a two-way exchange and that adults must be willing and able to learn from young people.

The New York network pledged to work on boards and commissions, and strategies to make them diverse and inclusive. Diversity in these contexts must be measurable, and leaders must be developed, cultivated, and supported to be involved in board and commission leadership in New York State.

The network also pledged to connect the players at the table in order to develop and sustain an effective pipeline to feed one another’s programs.

Leadership diversity creates a powerful society that maximizes the contributions of all of its citizens, building off their assets and unique experiences and contexts, to positively impact our environment. Juan Salgado CEO, Institute for Latino Progress

In order to establish leading public service organizations that most effectively serve constituents, organizations must attract and retain the best and brightest employees with diverse sets of life experiences. They must understand and act upon the rich diversity of their constituents and strive to enable innovation and solutions for an increasingly diverse customer base by using the diverse talents, ideas, and perspectives of their employees. Hogan Lee Vice Chairman, Asian Professional Exchange


PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY INITIATIVE STRATEGIC PLAN

Vision

The National Urban Fellows Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative seeks to

inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership for America with an emphasis on individual systems.

Through research, communications, stakeholder mobilization, and action, the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative will develop and advance a new inclusive public service leadership framework and movement to enhance individual and organizational leadership practices.

Public service leaders and organizations will promote and implement inclusive leadership practices and processes that achieve more fair and equitable results, including more effective and accepted solutions to social issues.

Public service, defined as service in government, nonprofit, and/or philanthropy sectors, will become a highly valued, respected, and impactful element of American livelihood and democracy.

Case Statement

America was founded on the principles of justice, equality, and inclusion. As a nation, we continue to strive for full participation and equality for all citizens, upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility for upholding these principles. America is a multicultural society dedicated to inclusive participation in our democracy, and our laws and social policies have evolved over time to reflect this commitment.

For our nation, we endeavor to build upon the diversity of our citizens to embrace the fullness of our democracy, and in doing so we advance inclusion as both a moral imperative and an excellent business model. The public service sector—from government and academic think tanks to foundations and nonprofit organizations—must be inclusive if we are to develop fair and effective structures to fulfill the intention of our democracy. This can be accomplished through removing cultural and structural barriers as well as individual acts of discrimination or bias.

Though growing in population, people of color remain underrepresented in the leadership of the public service sector,

an issue that can and must be resolved if we are to effectively change our nation’s most pressing social issues—from education to health, environment, and justice. Our country is now composed of one-third, or 34 percent, people of color—a population that will grow to 54 percent by 2042.5 However, federal government leadership is only 16 percent people of color.6 On the state level, people of color hold only 15 percent of statewide elective executive positions across the country. Moreover, only 18 percent of nonprofit leadership positions are filled by people of color7, and only 17 percent of foundation executives are people of color.8

5 U.S. Census Bureau, August 2008 6 Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile, Congressional Research Service, December 2008 7 Change Ahead: The 2004 Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Transitions Survey, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2004, p. 2 8 Daring to Lead, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, 2006, p.25


When current disparities in public service leadership are addressed, the public service sector will have greater ability and appeal to people of color with the leadership skills to solve social policy dilemmas. The participation of people of color and the infusion of diverse voices and experiences into decision-making processes ensure a sense of cultural competency and effectiveness within policy-based solutions to social issues. As champions of transformational change, our goal is to not only achieve proportional representation in the public service sector by building a pipeline of talented, highly skilled candidates of color, but also to dismantle the barriers to inclusion of people of color in leadership positions and to support the public’s recognition that diversity in leadership leads to organizational excellence.

The National Urban Fellows Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative inspires and advocates for excellence and diversity in public service leadership for America. With a dual emphasis on individuals and systems, and through research, communications, stakeholder mobilization, and action, the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative will develop a new, inclusive paradigm of public service leadership.

Leadership Gaps and Vacancies

In the next ten years, federal agencies will lose over 575,000 employees, more than a third of their current full-time, permanent workforce —with over 100,000 of those employees coming from supervisory ranks;9 state and city agencies will lose thousands more. Additionally, it is estimated that over the next ten years, the nonprofit sector will need a minimum of 330,000 new senior managers to fill vacated and new leadership openings.10

National Challenges

In order to achieve social justice and equity for all people, leadership skills, solutions, and perspectives that reflect knowledge of communities and diversity of opinion are what is needed to solve 21st century challenges in our economy, health care, public education, environment, and national security.

9 Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Projections – FY 2009 through 2018, for Full Time Permanent Employees On-board as of October 1, 2008. www.opm.gov/feddata/retire/retirementprojections and eligibility for NSFTP 09 10 Tierney, Thomas. The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit. San Francisco: The Bridgespan Group, 2006, p. 14.


culturally competent and drives evidence-based change in public service leadership practices as well as social solutions.

5) Model and implement inclusive leadership practice and transformational change in this movement, through connecting as well as organizing partners and influencers in a collaborative network of national and regional organizations, utilizing systems thinking to solve issues, bridging differences through communications, and learning and reflecting during the multi-year campaign.

Strategies

1) Build a collaborative network of national and regional organizations to drive transformational change, practicing the theory of aligned contributions and actions and utilizing a strong technology platform and social media to share learning, foster community, and drive results. Benchmark and connect aligned efforts in public service leadership development.

PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY INITIATIVE STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN 2011-2015

Our Strategic Plan integrates our 40-year program history (MPA Fellowship, Alumni,

Mentors, and America’s Leaders of Change), our model of Inclusive Leadership Development with a breakthrough performance focus, and our emerging role as a catalyst for individual and systematic social change to drive excellence as well as diverse representation of top public service leaders.

Theory of Change

We can more effectively address and solve our nation’s most pressing social issues if we change the representation of public service leadership and create a new paradigm of inclusive leadership practice.

Goals and Change Imperatives

Our overarching goal is to mobilize a collaborative network of learning and practice, and launch a campaign action plan to inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership. Through aligned contributions and actions,

strategies and best practices will be identified and implemented to create transformational change in public service leadership and, as a result, enhance the representation of people of color in top leadership roles to address social issues and foster social justice more effectively. We plan to:

1) Create and promote a clear moral imperative and business case for public service leadership diversity as a strategy for public service excellence.

2) Increase representation of people of color in top public service leadership roles to match population.

3) Identify structural barriers and systems that prevent advancement of people of color to top public service leadership roles, and present and advocate for solutions that promote inclusive leadership practices, including leadership preparation and professional development programs to develop the pipeline of talent of people of color.

4) Produce and disseminate research on leadership diversity and excellence that is


2) Raise awareness of the need for inclusive public service leadership and develop and advance a model and framework for inclusive leadership practice.

3) Use research and co-inquiry among network members to identify and correct structural barriers that prevent the advancement of people of color to top public service leadership roles. Develop evidence-based research to demonstrate how diversity and inclusion in public service leads to more effective solutions and equity for people served.

4) Develop the public service pipeline of talented people of color interested in and prepared to pursue successful public service career paths, and ready to advance to public service leadership roles. Engage the continuum of youth through late career professionals in the public service pipeline.

5) Measure and publicize leadership representation results in government, nonprofit, and philanthropy, and celebrate champions as well as best practices in public service leadership diversity and excellence that produce results in social issues.

Campaign Action Plan 2011-2012

1) Produce and publish messaging and business case for Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative.

2) Identify and address structural barriers to effective advancement of people of color by identifying and promoting inclusive leadership practices that prepare and support people of color to assume senior and top public service leadership positions. Identify and advance inclusive leadership practices with respect to the preparation, recruitment, hiring, training, deployment, and promotion of public service leaders.

3) Build a national talent bank for people of color to certify and position themselves for senior and top public service leadership positions and for organizations to post senior and top public service leadership vacancies. Pilot in target positions, sub sectors, and/or geographies.

4) Create best practices for cross-cultural leadership circles, youth development in cultural competency, cross-cultural civic engagement, and succession planning.

5) Design and promote new practices for board and commission selection and composition.

6) Design a new practice of “metworking,” promoting research-based effective mentoring of and networking for people of color in public service.

7) Identify high-leverage leadership roles for data collection of representation and publication of scorecards.

8) Promote champions of public service leadership diversity and excellence, and identify and leverage organizational and individual best practices, strategies, and dashboards for successful inclusive leadership.

9) Implement technology platform for Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative.

10) Use social media and raise voices to advocate, educate, and promote inclusive leadership in public service, leading to more effective solutions to social issues.

Long-Range Campaign Action Plan 2011- 2015

1) Institutionalize inclusive leadership model as a new framework for leaders of public service organizations to be prepared, recruited, hired, trained, supported, and promoted, through messaging, case statement, and scorecards.

2) Disseminate information, train potential leaders, and advocate for inclusive public service leadership through national and regional networks of aligned public service organizations, designing a long term structure for public service leadership and development.

3) Create a large-scale pipeline with online resources and referrals for leadership development opportunities via national and regional talent banks for public service positions and candidates in all public service sectors, with


credentialing and career development support.

4) Measure, publish, and recognize representation results in federal, state and city government, nonprofits, and philanthropy.

5) Exemplify transformative leadership in the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative that creates and drives civic engagement and community action.

Outcomes and Measures of Success

The Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative will use the following measures of success to assess what individual, organization, community, and system level results are achieved:

1) Increased representation of people of color in top levels of public service leadership, leading to more effective actions and solutions for our nation’s social issues.

2) Enhanced pipeline of talent including more young people of color ready and inspired to pursue public service career paths, and positioned and supported to advance to leadership roles therein.

3) Increased awareness and use of campaign principles, messages, and products (e.g. scorecards, talent bank, Inclusive Leadership Model) among selected groups (e.g. policymakers, opinion leaders, funders, the general public, and the media), including mentions on websites, in testimony and publications, in grantmaking criteria, and in the media.

4) Increased use of inclusive leadership practices in leadership development programs, and in public service organizations’ recruitment, hiring, evaluation, and promotion practices.

5) Engagement of a wide, cross-sector array of leading national and regional organizations through the collaborative network, fostering new sustainable relationships, increasing collaboration among its members, and influencing their leadership development practices.

6) Utilization of strong technology and social media platforms by members of the collaborative network and other leading public service organizations to share learning, foster community, and drive results.

7) Evidence-based research on the impact of inclusive leadership on civic health, including increased civic engagement (e.g. the emergence of new advocates and champions, and increases in voting, volunteering, attending public meetings, serving on boards, and working for change), and improved perceptions of community leadership and openness.

8) Improved public opinion of public service as a worthwhile and respected career and trusted American institution.

National Urban Fellows Funding Strategy 2011-2015

Raise $4-$5 million for 2012-2015 from 10-12 donors, who form a Funders’ Leadership Circle.

STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN continued

2011 Board and Advisory Council

Expert Consultants


National Urban Fellows Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative 2011-2015

VisionAdvance and inspire excellence and diversity

in public service leadership for America

Transformational Change Attitude and Behavior

(PROCESS)

Representation of Top Leadership (OUTCOMES)

Theory of Change: Better to address social issues

through more diverse leadership

Goals and Strategies

Network

Fundraising and Communications

Structure

Mission and Vision Branding and Movement

Value Proposition for Leadership Diversity and Inclusion

2011-2015 2012-2015

•Awareness (Case for Inclusive Leadership) •Pipeline (Talent Bank and Structural Systems) •Representation (Scorecards and Champions)

•Inclusive Leadership Model and Practice •Leadership Diversity Research and Data •Regional Projects

•Engagement (Network of more than 125) •Best Practice Collaborative •Co-Inquirers (Research and Data) •Aligned Contribution Model

$4M-$5M Goal (2012-2015)

Corporations and Foundations Funders Circle

Technology Platform Media Strategy Spokespersons

2011 Board and Advisory Council

Expert Consultants

Long Range Plan Infrastructure Inclusive Leadership Paradigm


The Inclusive Leadership Model (ILM) represents the foundation of National Urban

Fellows’ commitment to leadership development and provides a clear description of the dynamic process of conscious leadership development required of individual leaders and organizations. It articulates the essential elements of effective leadership and exemplifies our mission as we work towards social justice and equity for all people.

National Urban Fellows believes the ILM is at the core of its mission, programs, and organizational excellence. We have included the ILM in every aspect of the organization including its leadership, management, operations, and program offerings. Best practices for Inclusive Leadership development show us that leadership development is not a one-time training process; rather it is an ongoing integration practice incorporating learning, practice, and feedback as each organization discovers new ways to support the development of board, staff, and program participants to become Inclusive Leaders actively participating in an Inclusive Organization.

Effective Inclusive Leadership development becomes indistinguishable from the culture of an organization. It is not separate from the activities that successful organizations undertake to translate an inspiring vision into successful results. Our ILM is designed to deepen the understanding of this dynamic process and to highlight the best research practices that have influenced its development.

INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP MODEL: AN INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL IMPERATIVE

The National Urban Fellows Inclusive Leadership Model is a unique framework for leadership action that produces individual and organizational results. The model is grounded in the core value of inclusion, treating culturally different perspectives as an asset, and it embraces diversity as a strategic imperative. The integration of philosophy, skills and competencies, and Breakthrough ActionTM in our Inclusive Leadership Model drives individual and systems strategies for public service leadership results, including more effective and accepted solutions to social issues.

Inclusive Leadership Model – The Individual

Introduction

The Inclusive Leadership Model represents the core of our commitment to individual leadership development and a clear description of the dynamic process of the conscious development of an Inclusive Leader. The model describes both our belief about the essential elements of an Inclusive Leader and the conscious process required by an individual to combine these elements to become a truly Inclusive Leader.

Best practices suggest that while there are many paths to leadership, Inclusive Leaders are characterized by their conscious development of four key factors including a clear philosophy of leadership, an ongoing commitment to building leadership skills and competencies, a conscious practice of leadership that we call Breakthrough ActionTM, and a consistent commitment to results.

A philosophy of leadership is inclusive of both the particular style and the key values that characterize an individual leader’s approach. Articulating this philosophy is important because a particular style is not applicable in every setting. When leaders know their own styles and values they can easily see when a particular approach is not a match for a new situation and can modify it accordingly.

An ongoing commitment to skills and competencies is essential as our culture changes and demands new leadership skills. Cultural competence is an example of a dynamic leadership skill; it challenges leaders to build diversity within their organizations and to support a dynamic culture capable of recognizing and utilizing diverse voices.

Breakthrough ActionTM is a conscious leadership practice that leaders develop in order to be effective in areas where they are stuck or stopped. Comprising chiefly the conscious practices of Being Responsible, Being Self-Reflective, and Being Committed to the Collective Leadership, Breakthrough ActionTM allows leaders to consistently expand beyond both self-imposed and structural barriers.

Finally, results-driven leaders are essential. While planning and assessment are essential, it is the capacity to make promises and deliver results consistent with those promises that separates leaders from mere talkers. A focus on results, successful and unsuccessful, drives leaders to continuously reflect, evaluate and act to improve outcomes in support of their individual or organizational mission. Results-driven leaders are Inclusive Leaders when they ensure that diverse voices from the communities they serve are not just at the table for the process but are also able to benefit from the results of that process.

National Urban Fellows Inclusive Leadership Model – The Organization

Introduction

The Inclusive Leadership Model represents the core of our commitment to organizational leadership development and a clear description of the dynamic process of creating and sustaining an Inclusive Organization. The model describes both our belief about the essential elements of an Inclusive Organization and the process of developing those elements to produce a truly Inclusive Organization.

As in the individual model there are many paths to achieve and sustain an Inclusive Organization. However, best practices here suggest that these organizations are characterized by their commitment to the development of four key factors including an Inclusive Leader, an ongoing commitment to building institutional competencies, a conscious organizational practice of leadership that we call Breakthrough ActionTM, and a consistent commitment to results.

The word inclusive specifically emphasizes that the organization promotes the involvement of all stakeholders; it promotes involvement, and this principle is integrated throughout our model. The word diverse describes an organization that is heterogeneous in its demographics. We affirm that while diversity can be achieved through simple strategic practices, true inclusion requires organizational transformation at the level of values and norms.

The most effective organizations are Inclusive Organizations built on models of Inclusive Leadership. Inclusive Leaders surround themselves with organizations characterized by a truly inclusive structure and process. Inclusive Organizations are dynamic in their appetite for learning and development and in that they adopt an ongoing integrative practice that combines training, practice, and feedback assessment. Key Institutional Competencies in

PhilosophyBreakthrough

Action

TM

Skills &

Com

pete

ncies

INCLUSIVELEADER

Inclusive Leadership Model – The Individual

Results

The Key Areas of Inclusive Leadership Model – THE INDIVIDUAL11

Philosophy

Inclusive Leaders must develop a conscious philosophy of leadership, articulating their values and style of leadership. Respect, integrity and courage are cornerstones of inclusive leadership philosophy.

Skills and Competencies

Key skills for Inclusive Leadership include cultural competence, systems thinking, group facilitation, organizational development, strategic planning and implementation, communication and financial acumen.

Breakthrough ActionTM 12

This dynamic leadership practice builds leaders’ capacity to be un-blocked and in action regardless of circumstance by developing the practices of being responsible, self-reflective, and capable of creating collective leadership.

Results

Without a commitment to take action and produce results, the best leaders eventually get stuck and blocked from continually progressing to new levels of effectiveness and impact.

11 The Inclusive Leadership Model – The Individual has been significantly informed by the document Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion: Insights from Scholarship by the Research Center for Leadership in Action, NYU Wagner – December 20, 2010. 12 Breakthrough ActionTM is a leadership development practice created by DKBWAVE Training & Consulting: Principal/Partners -David Mensah & Debra Keenan


the Inclusive Organization include organizational assessment, planning and implementation, ongoing education and training, inclusive representation, networking, mentoring, and coaching.

Inclusive Organizations must create systems that consistently include the voices of the individual stakeholders and ensure that the needs of the organization are not allowed to silence these essential voices.

The development of an Inclusive Organization emerges when an Inclusive Organization is led, staffed, and supported by Inclusive Leaders committed to the responsible development of themselves and the leaders around them, and their culture becomes indistinguishable from the culture of an organization.

The Inclusive Organization is not separated from any of the activities that successful organizations undertake to translate an inspiring vision into successful results; rather it is designed to deepen the understanding of this dynamic process and to highlight the best research practices that have influenced its development.

Summary

Inclusive Leadership is an imperative for a changing America as our nation’s people of color become the majority by 2042.15 Our nation is the most diverse in the world, and we assert that America’s promise of social justice can be realized with Inclusive Leadership practices. Challenges and structural barriers stand before us in our march to achieve equity, and they must be addressed with a sense of urgency. National Urban Fellows is proud to present our Inclusive Leadership Model, reflecting the experience of our 40-year history and continuing research. The evidence supports Inclusive Leadership as a new paradigm to achieve excellence and diversity in public service leadership for America.

The Key Areas of Inclusive Leadership Model – THE ORGANIZATION13

Inclusive LeaderBreakthrough

Action

TM

Resu

lts

Institu

tional

Com

pete

ncies

INCLUSIVEORGANIZATION

Inclusive Leadership Model – The Organization

Inclusive Leader

At the core is a leader with a personal leadership philosophy who is competent in key skill areas including cultural competence and systems thinking. Inclusive Leaders are deliberate in their practice of Breakthrough ActionTM and actively produce mission-centered results.

Institutional Competencies

These must include strategic planning, organizational assessment and development, education and training, inclusive and integrated human resource system, inclusive culture, adaptability, networking, coaching, and mentoring.

Breakthrough ActionTM 14

Organizations build a lifelong capacity to be un-blocked and in action regardless of the environment by creating a culture of responsibility, ongoing assessment, and a demonstrated commitment to developing each employee and stakeholder as a leader.

Results

Without a commitment to take action and produce results, the best organizations get mired in planning, risk management, and getting it right. Action and results producing must be an integral part of the culture of any Inclusive Organization.

13 The Inclusive Leadership Model – Organization has been significantly informed by the document Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion: Insights from Scholarship by the Research Center for Leadership in Action, NYU Wagner – December 20, 2010. 14 Breakthrough ActionTM is a leadership development practice created by DKBWAVE Training & Consulting: Principals Partners - David Mensah & Debra Keenan 15 U.S. Census Bureau, August 2008


INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP MODEL continued

PUBLIC SERVICE LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY INITIATIVE SUMMARY

National Urban Fellows

Founded in 1969 to counter the under-representation of people of color and women in leadership, National Urban Fellows is one of the oldest leadership development organizations in the United States. Over forty years later, National Urban Fellows is among the country’s most effective leadership development institutions for recruiting and training professional, mid-career people of color and women who will be among the leaders in the nation’s future communities.

National Urban Fellows believes the Inclusive Leadership Model (ILM) represents the foundation of leadership development and provides a clear description of the dynamic process of conscious leadership development required of individual leaders and organizations. The ILM is at the core of the NUF mission, programs, and organizational excellence.

Today, National Urban Fellows advocates and inspires excellence and diversity in public service leadership, and continues to counter the under-representation of people of color and women in leadership, as a premier voice of authority on leadership diversity for the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

America is Changing

Shifting Population

• Our country is now composed of one-third, or 34 percent, people of color—a population that will grow to 54 percent by 2042. However, federal government leadership is only 16 percent people of color.

• On the state level only 15 percent people of color hold statewide elective executive positions across the country.

• Only 18 percent of nonprofit leadership positions are filled by people of color, and only 17 percent of foundation executives are people of color.

Leadership Gaps

• In the next ten years, federal agencies will lose over 575,000 employees, more than a third of their current full-time, permanent workforce, with over 100,000 of those employees coming from supervisory ranks

• State and city agencies will lose thousands more

• It is estimated that over the next ten years, the nonprofit sector will need a minimum of 330,000 new senior managers to fill vacated and new leadership openings.


Understanding the economic roots and potential pathways to affecting local, regional, national and global equity is critical for affecting public leadership.

Diverse perspectives must be part of the dialogue to improve the breadth of the applied solution. Tony Benjamin Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle


Call to Action

In 2010, the critical findings of the National Urban Fellows 40th Anniversary research report, Changing the Face of Public Service Leadership, prompted a national Call to Action, resulting in the National Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative (PSLDI). Launched the same year, the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative set out to enlist a national collaborative network of public service leaders and organizations that would work to create an awareness of the need for leadership diversity and implement an action plan to develop public service leaders who reflect the changing face of America.

The Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative (PSLDI) launched a national leadership diversity campaign with a summit held in Washington, DC on April 21, 2010.

The goals for the National Summit were to:• Create a clear case for action

• Clarify a compelling vision

• Identify challenging goals and strategies

• Develop an action plan consistent with changing the face of public service leadership by the year 2050.

The National Summit produced a clear Vision Statement and the first draft of an action plan that would be tested, explored, and expanded at the regional summits that were to follow. The National Summit was followed by a series of eight regional summits convened by National Urban Fellows with network partners across the country from May through November 2010.

SUMMARY continued

The problems that we face as a nation are unprecedented in scope and complexity. Our uniquely diverse population is one factor contributing to this complexity. Accordingly, it is a moral, social and political imperative that we create a rich pool of talented, diverse and motivated public leaders that are equal to the immense task at hand. We need to examine our problems with fresh perspectives, approaches and skills. A diverse group of new leaders provides these characteristics so that our country can move ever closer to realizing its promise for all. Miguel Centeno Vice President, Strategic Market Development, Aetna

The work that is done in non-profits is vital to every mission that is being served. We must continue as leaders to be advocates on behalf of those in need. We must continue to identify where the deficiencies are and help one another to find the resources available to fill the gap. The diverse make-up of our community requires people with passion who will be willing to role up their sleeves and do the hard work required to make changes and impact the lives around them. Tracye Bryant Chair of the Board, Future Foundation, Inc


Though growing in population, people of color remain underrepresented in the leadership of the public service sector, an issue that can and must be resolved if we are to effectively change our nation’s most pressing social issues—from education to health, environment, and justice.

From government and academic think tanks to foundations and nonprofit organizations — the public sector must be inclusive if we are to develop fair and effective structures to fulfill the intention of our democracy. This can be accomplished through removing cultural and structural barriers as well as individual acts of discrimination or bias.

Vision

The National Urban Fellows Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative seeks to inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership for America with an emphasis on individual systems.

Theory of Change

We can more effectively address and solve our nation's most pressing social issues if we change the representation of public service leadership and create a new paradigm of inclusive leadership practice.

Action Plan

The overarching goal is to mobilize a collaborative network of learning and practice, and launch a campaign action plan to inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership. Through aligned contributions and actions, strategies and best practices will be identified and implemented to create transformational change in public service leadership and, as a result, enhance the representation of people of color in top leadership roles to address social issues and foster social justice more effectively.

Conclusion

Now is the time to create a movement and a campaign of action to produce a national collaborative network of government and nonprofit leaders and organizations that will implement a campaign action plan, supporting the advancement of highly skilled leaders of color for public service leadership and work to create awareness of the need for leadership diversity and inclusion, while developing a pipeline of people of color who are prepared, ready, and waiting to attain leadership positions of influence and power.

Today there is inadequate effort to support inclusive leadership as a public service working strategy, or mechanisms to allow talented people of color to be identified for senior leadership positions. There is little action based consideration to representational statistics that illustrate the scarcity of people of color at top levels of public service leadership, and there are no collaborative public service organizations engaged in learning about an inclusive leadership model, ensuring the development of inclusive leaders and organizations.

With a dual emphasis on individuals and systems, and through research, communications, stakeholder mobilization, and action, the Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative will develop a new, inclusive paradigm of public service leadership.

A 40 year history has prepared National Urban Fellows to be a catalyst for individual and systemic change in public service leadership excellence and diversity.

I believe that critical knowledge and perspectives about the world are imbedded in all of our diverse communities. My responsibility as a community leader is to develop other leaders who embrace community-based knowledge and perspectives; leaders who can access that knowledge in others; leaders who can bring that knowledge forward to the largest policy debates and dialogues that will ultimately lead to change in our communities, our country and our world. Kevin Cottrell Executive Director, Southern California Leadership Network

The average age of general managers and local government managers make it an imperative to develop leaders that will be prepared to serve the growing diversity represented in our communities. The next generation should be encouraged to consider public sector leadership careers that embrace gender, cultural, age, sexual orientation and leadership development mentoring and coaching developed to support their interest. Jeff Kolin City Manager, City of Beverly Hills


CALL TO ACTION ANNOUNCEMENT 40TH ANNIVERSARY LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE JANUARY 2010 • WASHINGTON, DC

Photos Clockwise from Top Left: Mayor Harvey Johnson, Jackson, MS, Class of ’76

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro with (left to right) NUF Board of Directors Jacinta Gauda, Floyd Johnson, Nina Martinez, Larry King and Nicole Jones

Below: (left to right) Paula Gavin, President, National Urban Fellows, Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency and Michelle DePass, Assistant Administrator for International Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Class of ’98 and NUF Mentor at the EPA

Left: Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, Wade Henderson, President & CEO, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, Secretary of State, New York

PHOTOS: PHOTOGENIC SERVICES


National Urban Fellows develops

accomplished and courageous professionals

of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, particularly

people of color and women, to be leaders and change

agents in the public and nonprofit sectors, with a

strong commitment to social justice and equity.

© National Urban Fellows 2011. All rights reserved.

Breakthrough ActionTM is a trademark of DKBWAVE

Training & Consulting: Principals Partners - David Mensah & Debra Keenan

National Urban Fellows, Inc.

102 West 38th Street

Suite #700

New York, NY 10018

Phone: 212.730.1700

Fax: 212.730.1823

www.nuf.org

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