As the New Pittsburgh Courier reported last week, city review of minority and women contracting numbers is now conducted by two clerks, instead of by the legislatively created Department of Equal Opportunity. The department itself has no director, and the position is not even budgeted for the next two years.
Now, the Courier has discovered that another diversity initiative begun under the previous administration has also been scrapped—DiverCity 365.
In 2007, former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl launched DiverCity 365 to increase the city’s minority and women recruiting and hiring, which according to a 2008-2012 audit by Evergreen Solutions, it did significantly. The April 2013 report said the number of minority applicants increased by 757 percent, from 205 applicants in 2005 to 1757 applicants in 2012.
Though less spectacular, the hiring numbers also increased. In 2012, 26 percent of all hires were minority compared to 24 percent in 2005. Eleven percent of all fulltime hires were minority in 2012, an increase of 3 percent more than in 2005.
But just like the former Equal Opportunity Review Commission, DiverCity 365 is now gone.
The city’s Department of Personnel and Civil Service Commission, under which DiverCity operated, has been downsized and reorganized. Todd Siegel, who has worked as an administrative supervisor with the city for 25 years, is the department’s director. The new employment/EEO manager is Paula Kellerman.
When asked by the New Pittsburgh Courier if any new initiatives or outreach efforts had been put in place sine 365 ended, Kellerman replied by email that she had “been advised” to refer these inquiries to the city Law Department for a Right to Know request.
Tamiko Stanley, who served as the DiverCity 365 EEO manager during the initiative’s tenure said she is “technically” still there, but isn’t being paid. Asked if there are any African-Americans or diversity initiatives remaining in the department, Stanley laughed and said, “No and no.”
“As far as I know, there is no intention to focus on anything (diversity) related,” she said. “I cannot be a part of the abhorrent things being planned there, but nice to hear they added the EEO position back at least to some degree.”
Mayor Bill Peduto was attending a conference in Los Angeles and unavailable for comment. His spokesman Tim McNulty said personnel-related inquiries may require Right To Know requests, but it is merely to keep track of information.
The Courier requested the following information:
•How many people now work in the department?
•How many of them are African-Americans?
•How many positions have been cut?
•Of those remaining, how many are working on minority recruiting and hiring?
•Since DiverCity 365 was an initiative of the previous administration, what, if anything, has replaced it?
•If nothing, are there any new diversity initiatives in the works?
•How many non-union jobs in city government are currently held by African-Americans, and in which departments?
The Law Department did not respond by Courier press deadline.
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