The new “Public Service Diversity Initiative" -- aimed at increasing the number of people of color holding leadership positions in the public and nonprofit sectors -- will be the focus of a New York University forum organized by National Urban Fellows and the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) at NYU Wagner.

Forum Will Introduce New Nationwide Effort to Increase Diversity in Public Service Leadership

One in three Americans are people of color, yet minorities occupy just one in six leadership positions in state and federal governments, nonprofit organizations and philanthropic foundations.  Meanwhile, people of color are projected to increase to 54 percent of the U.S. population over the next three decades.

On Thursday, April 28, at a New York University public forum, the nationwide leadership training and development organization National Urban Fellows will announce the “Public Service Diversity Initiative” -- aimed at increasing the number of people of color holding leadership positions in the public and nonprofit sectors. This event, free and open to the public, begins at 8 a.m. at the NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, 9th Floor, between Thompson Street and LaGuardia Place in Greenwich Village.

The forum, titled “From Influence to Power,” is hosted in partnership with the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA), a nationally known institute at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service that works to develop a deep and diverse pool of public service leaders.

Featured speakers include:

§  Jeff Johnson, MSNBC Journalist (keynote speaker)

§  Ellen Schall, dean, NYU Wagner

§  Gene Sexton, deputy chief human capital officer, U.S. Department of Labor 

§  Sonia M. Ospina, associate professor, NYU Wagner, and faculty director, RCLA

§  George C. Wu, executive director, OCA, which advances Asian Pacific Americans.

The National Urban Fellows’ “Public Service Leadership Diversity Initiative” will be a national collaborative network of nonprofit leaders and organizations working to support the advancement of highly skilled leaders of color for positions of public service leadership. A network of more than 125 partners, it 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 positions of influence and power.

The April 28 forum will also feature the release of Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion: Insights from Scholarship, a newly completed report on recent scholarship on building public service leadership diversity, issued by NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action and commissioned by National Urban Fellows.

 RSVP is required. Contact Mohammad Levesque-Alam at mlalam@nuf.org .

About NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action:  The Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) builds knowledge and capacity for excellence in public service leadership.  Housed at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a top-ranked school for public service, the Center conducts rigorous research and offers customized leadership development and capacity-building programs that facilitate critical reflection, peer-to-peer learning and transformation at the individual, organizational and systems levels. Visit www.wagner.nyu.edu/leadership for more information.               

About National Urban Fellows:  Founded in 1969 to counter the underrepresentation of people of color and women in leadership positions, National Urban Fellows is a voice of authority on leadership diversity for public and nonprofit sectors. The organization’s range of mid-career leadership development programs include an a 14-month MPA Fellowship; America’s Leaders of Change, a career acceleration program for leaders on the rise in public service sectors; a life-long Alumni Leadership Network, and a collaborative, national network of public service organizations leading a campaign to advocate and inspire excellence and diversity in public service leadership. Visit www.nuf.org for more information.

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