Detroit struggles with an issue that’s prevalent across America and worldwide – the racial leadership gap. This issue is most pronounced in nonprofit sectors like community development, which play pivotal roles in supporting vulnerable communities. Often, the support that’s offered is life-changing, but successes are often predicated on frontline staff’s ability to relate to the systemic challenges of their client base. Unfortunately, leadership development opportunities aren’t typically offered to frontline staff.

Implicit and explicit biases are arguably tools of oppression, and they can show up in community development staffing and leadership development. A few examples include:

• Unconscious bias, unintentionally favoring individuals from similar backgrounds, leading to homogeneous leadership;
  Confirmation bias, favoring information that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs, including preconceived notions of what a leader should be, often excluding people of color;
• Affinity bias, warming up to people most like ourselves, leading those in positions of power to be more likely to mentor and promote individuals who share their backgrounds;
• Stereotype bias, assuming capabilities of different racial groups, which can influence decisions about who is considered for leadership roles, often to the disadvantage of people of color;
• Structural bias, biases that have become woven into the fabric of organizations and systems, which can profoundly affect who gets access to opportunities; and
• System justification bias, maintaining status quo policies and practices, which tends to uphold existing social arrangements and hierarchies, thereby preserving the racial leadership gap.

When biases go unaddressed, it becomes much easier for community development initiatives to have unintended consequences like gentrification. Long-time residents are displaced due to rising rents, and nonprofits shift their focus to meet the needs of new, wealthier inhabitants. Inequitable access to resources worsens (including in leadership staffing) and new residents’ norms and expectations can alienate original community members and discourage them from taking on leadership roles. Divisions in the community make it more challenging to organize around common causes, fragmenting communities and making leadership opportunities even scarcer for residents of color. Policymakers, community leaders, and nonprofit organizations can consciously prioritize leadership diversity and actively work to represent and address the needs of all community members, particularly those at risk of displacement.

Mykell Price has demonstrated a commitment to skillfully working at the intersections of housing, youth, families, gender, LGBTQIA+, disability, economic, and racial justice movements during his entire professional journey. Currently the Director of Talent, Equity, and Inclusion at the Ruth Ellis Center, Mykell is a certified diversity and inclusion leader with over 15 years of experience leading and growing the global diversity, equity, and inclusion landscape for several local and national nonprofit industry leaders.