MANCHESTER — Hiring its first chief diversity officer reminded officials at the YWCA of the challenges the nonprofit faces to curb racism.
Ten people vied for the job, all of them non-white.
“These candidates have shared stories with me about how they applied for job after job similar to this in New Hampshire and not got selected,” said Jessica Cantin, CEO of YWCA New Hampshire. “The fact that we had 10 qualified candidates for her position is to me is a testament. It’s not a talent issue. It’s an access issue.”
Thinking about the state’s nonprofit world, Cantin, who is White, said: “I look around at a lot of our counterparts, and there aren’t a lot of people of color in leadership positions in New Hampshire.”
The YWCA recently appointed Emerald Anderson-Ford, a Black American, as its first chief diversity officer.
“There’s a lot of great diversity” in the area, Anderson-Ford, 36, said during her first week on the job. “There’s like a lot of rich cultures here that aren’t always celebrated and aren’t always looked at in ways that resources and access to opportunities are given.”
She said she plans to listen to the community’s needs and develop a strategic plan to address health, education and safety issues. She will work with YWCA leadership and its partners to help improve the community.
“I think the reason I keep talking about elevating voices is because as we talk about resources, where money is going, where people power is going, where time is going, that really is what creates the culture in our city,” said Anderson-Ford, who came from the national office of City Year, having served in a variety of roles, including managing director of diversity and equity strategy.
New Census figures showed that New Hampshire’s population grew more diverse over the past decade, with 2020 Census figures showing 87.2% as non-Hispanic and White alone compared to 92.3% a decade earlier, according to Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.
“I think that equity work and anti-racism work is challenging no matter where we are,” Anderson-Ford said. “I don’t think being in New Hampshire makes it easier or harder. I think it just makes it a different type of work that I am looking to do.”
New Hampshire has “pockets of really high immigrant and refugee populations” compared to the South, where she hails from, “where we have Black Americans and not have immigrants. That experience is very different.”
Manchester’s adult population is 22% minority; Nashua’s is even higher at 25.9%, according to Johnson.
Often, success is contingent on who you know, she said.
“It’s what does your network look like” and whether you have had the opportunity “to shine in” your field and get noticed by decision-makers, she said.
Anderson-Ford said a discussion of diversity, equity and inclusion also needs to include the sense of belonging.
“Diversity is really that thing that can be quantified. Like you can typically see diversity, right? And yes, there are some dimensions of diversity you can’t see, but ideally, you can quantify it, right?” she said.
“I would add a B, a belonging there. I think once people start to feel like they belong in the space, they can show up as their authentic selves.”
Belonging comes about with communication and relationship-building, she said.
“From there, you get into the inclusion piece, that I, which means not only do I feel that I belong here, but now I’m included in some of the decision-making,” she said. “I’m included in what’s happening around me. People are looking to me for my perspective, for my opinion, right? That’s that inclusion piece.”
Equity is the next step.
“Equity is when you actually reach diversity. People feel like they belong, they feel included, and now equity, we’re actually starting to really rethink about some of the structures that can continue to perpetuate those forms of marginalization and oppression that people have felt over the course of our history,” Anderson-Ford said.
Equity is the ultimate goal.
“We’re always striving to get there, but I don’t know if it’s something we’ll ever fully achieve because things are always going to be changing, and the needs of the people in our communities are always going to be changing, so we’re always aspiring to ensure that we’re being as equitable as possible,” Anderson-Ford said.
