Nominate a Philly leader of color to be recognized in Generocity’s 2018 Leader List

For the past three summers, Generocity has spent one dedicated month reporting on people of color doing important work in Philadelphia’s social impact sector.

We do this year-round, of course, but the goal behind “leaders of color month” of each year’s editorial calendar is to highlight diversity in the communities we cover — nonprofits, philanthropy, social enterprises, local government and the like — even more than we usually do.

(That’s the whole point of the editorial calendar, by the way — to take a deeper editorial dive into some subset of social impact and unearth the stories we miss in the day-to-day.)

I wrote this on the subject in 2016: “At Generocity, we want to be intentional about bringing visibility to the great work the city’s social impact leaders of color are doing in the hopes that in turn, we can encourage more diversity in our community.”

Just one reason to encourage that diversity: Nationally, the diversity of nonprofit boards hasn’t increased in two decades. And, the argument goes, non-diverse boards perform less well and are less likely to meet their missions.

In July 2017, we reported out a list of 12 impressive folks working in each of our editorial calendar themes of that year — one for each month — with short profiles of each. Read the nearly 3,000-word love letter to our better collective future here.

This August, we’re doing it again, but we want more feedback as we form our shortlist of honorees for what we’re now calling the Leader List. Tell us: Who deserves to be recognized?

First, check out Generocity’s 2018 editorial calendar, with descriptions of what each theme includes:

• JANUARY — Hiring (workforce and professional development, organizational culture and diversity, etc.)
• FEBRUARY — Women in leadership (policy, mentorship, youth empowerment, entrepreneurship, etc.)
• MARCH — Social entrepreneurship (biz development, new funding models, startups, B Corps, etc.)
• APRIL — Accessibility (design, technology, activism, etc.)
• MAY — Reentry and criminal justice (policy, job training, youth, etc.)
• JUNE — LGBTQ (activism, leadership development, social services, health, etc.)
• JULY — Sustainability (the environment, government, social entrepreneurship, etc.)
• AUGUST — Leaders of color (leadership development, mentorship, youth, etc.)
• SEPTEMBER — Community development (CDCs, grassroots economic development, philanthropy, neighborhood organizations, etc.)
• OCTOBER — Impact investing (new funding models, social entrepreneurship, advocacy, etc.)
• NOVEMBER — Civic tech (government, digital literacy, Smart Cities, social entrepreneurship, etc.)
• DECEMBER — Volunteerism (civic engagement, board service, volunteer management, corporate social responsibility, etc.)

Know a Philadelphia-based, self-identifying person of color who works (professionally or otherwise) in one of the above and is changing their sector for the better? We want to know them, too. Tell us why they’re great, and we’ll consider them for inclusion in the 2018 Generocity Leader List.