For Immediate Release September 30, 2003	Contacts:	Milly Hawk Daniel 212-629-9570 x212 mdaniel@policylink.org
		Dwayne Marsh 510-663-2333 ext. 310 dsm@policylink.org

New Report Says Stronger Communities Result When More Leaders of Color Can Impact Policy

New York , NY .  More than 100 racially and ethnically diverse leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors say that involving more leaders of color in policy development and implementation will make communities of color and the nation stronger. The leaders were interviewed for Leadership for Policy Change: Strengthening Communities of Color Through Leadership Development, the new PolicyLink report that was funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The report draws on interviews, an analysis of 72 leadership development programs, and an extensive review of current leadership development literature to conclude that:

• More leaders of color are needed to develop and implement economic and social policies;
• Barriers exist that prevent leaders of color from using their skills to significantly influence local and national policies on affordable housing, transportation, public education, land use, health disparities, and the environment, and;
• Strategies described in the report can remove the barriers, enabling leaders of color to use their expertise and experience to benefit low-income communities of color and the nation.

"The issues facing America today-the need for affordable housing, access to health care, better schools, and healthier environments-are not limited to one group or one income level," says Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink national president. "To find ways to resolve these issues," she continued, "we need to pool our talents and resources to find twenty-first century solutions to long-standing problems."

Leadership for Policy Change discusses the struggle for equity and justice experienced by leaders of color and how that struggle can inform discussions about economic and social policy. The wisdom and experience these leaders bring to policy forums can help the country live up to the promises of democracy. Yet repeatedly, the nation's most talented, credible, and dedicated advocates are excluded from critical decision-making venues. Examples from the report include these facts:

More than 80 percent of US congressional leaders are white men;

• 94 percent of state governors are white men;
• Throughout the 1990s, 97 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were white men;
• 94 percent of CEOs in philanthropy are white men;
• 88 percent of newspaper newsrooms are white; and

Leaders of color have made the critical difference in many policy campaigns:

• In 1999, the forceful advocacy of the activist and civil rights community worked with the Congressional Black Caucus to insure the survival of the Community Reinvestment Act, allowing loan commitments in urban and rural communities to continue.
• In 2000, a coalition of Healthy Start program directors, primarily African American led the effort to maintain the parent involvement component of this program to reduce infant mortality.
• In 2002, more than one hundred civil rights, education, religious, and other organizations launched the Digital Empowerment Campaign to successfully preserve and strengthen federal community technology programs.

"When leaders of color are at the policy table, we all benefit," Ms. Blackwell concluded.
"When they are not, we all lose."

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PolicyLink is a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity building, and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing policies to achieve economic and social equity based on the wisdom, voice, and experience of local constituencies. PolicyLink bridges the traditional divides between communities and the world of policymakers by lifting up what works®.

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