Photo: Art Academy Day Camp
Photo: Art Academy Day Camp
2022 was a year of great growth towards sustainability with in program delivery and development. In January, we hired Dale Gaddes as Marketing and Development Manager, and Kiera Cullen was hired as Assemble’s first-ever Grant Writer and Coordinator. In October, Thea Keene was hired as the Development Associate. Assemble also hired its first ever Offsite Coordinator, Jazmine Bailey, and Afterschool Coordinator, Tany Haynes, who was previously a Part-time Teacher. Four fellows were hired for the first Ramp-Up Fellowship: Alona Williams, Breydon Prioleau, Azadiel Watts, and Veronica Green. Khadijat Yussuff was hired as Monthly Programs Coordinator. Many part-time teachers were hired as well, including Brooke Dant, Melannie Taylor, Minnie Jones, Nsai Temko, Quinten Boose, and Aubrey Thompson. There were also some goodbyes: Jacquea Mae Olday left to pursue her music career, and Samira Mendoza, previous Monthly Programs Coordinator, left for New York City.
Chart: Assemble staff in 2022
Collecting demographic and identity-descriptive data about our staff, board, and Assemblers is one way for our organization to hold ourselves accountable to our values of inclusion and belonging. Examining this data enables us to understand more about the community of learners we serve. It also allows us to move more intentionally towards our goal of recruiting and retaining staff and board members who directly reflect the learners who come through our doors and, more broadly, our community in Pittsburgh.
We believe that creating a space and community where all folks feel they can truly belong means that we have to examine the way our biases—conscious or unconscious—may show up. This can include our institutional practices of hiring, recruitment, program design and delivery, fundraising, and program evaluation. We are committed to doing this learning alongside our community because it enables us to build true, authentic, and long-lasting partnerships, and is a core part of our vision and mission.
Data shows that our board in 2022 was disproportionately White or European American (76%) when compared to Assemble staff (40%) and to Pittsburgh (64%).
Ethnicities without representation on our 2022 board included: American Indian or Alaskan Native, Hispanic or Latino/a/x, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern or North African.
Ethnicities without representation on our 2022 staff included: American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern or North African.
The proportion of people identifying as female on Assemble’s Board of Directors (81%) in 2022 was higher than the national non-profit average (53%). The proportion of people identifying as Gender-Nonconforming, Non-Binary, and/or Transgender on the Board of Directors (5%) was lower than represented in the Assemble staff (17%), but higher than the national non-profit average (1.1%).