Feb. 28—ROCHESTER — After 34 years of working with marginalized communities and trying to make the local area more welcoming,
Rochester's Diversity Council
is shutting down.
The nonprofit's board of directors announced that it was decided "to wind down Diversity Council operations and develop a dissolution plan." All programming will end by March 8 and the three remaining employees will be let go in the next two weeks.
This decision is the end result of turmoil within the organization, including
the departure of former Executive Director Dee Sabol
in January.
"Approximately 10 months ago, the Diversity Council Board began investigations into community and staff concerns brought to the Board's attention. Ultimately, the Board determined that a new direction in leadership was needed," according to the statement from the organization. "After a comprehensive review of the previous year and taking the entire picture of organizational health into account, it quickly became apparent that the Diversity Council did not have the financial and human resources or sufficient stakeholder support to continue."
Under the guidance of Terri Allred and Kristi Ackley of Allred Consulting, the nonprofit's board did explore other options, including merging with another organization.
"We appreciate concerns from the community and we are confident this is the right direction for both DC and the community. This will allow the transfer of much-needed DEI resources to partner organizations and provide space for healing to those individuals and communities who were previously harmed," stated the board in Tuesday's announcement.
The group also recently announced that
it would no longer act as the fiscal sponsor
for 11 local diversity nonprofits,
The original version of the Diversity Council was formed by a group of school district staff and community leaders in 1989 following a series of student conflicts and harassment involving race and ethnicity. It was called Building Equality Together, but later became the Diversity Council.
The group surveyed 1,500 Olmsted County households to determine attitudes on racism. The results, published in September 1990, indicated clear racial bias in Olmsted County.
Following more racial violence incidents in the Rochester area, the "Not in Our Town" campaign was launched in 1997 to promote harmony and encourage tolerance.