The Progressive Research Institute of Nebraska is out with a report on the diversity of social service providers.
The “Diversity Report Card” graded non-profit organizations and government agencies on their racial/ethnic and gender diversity, which were weighted equally. PRI included data from nine non-profit organizations that serve primarily the Omaha area, as well as those that serve all Nebraskans.
Karen Abrams, chairman of the Board of Directors and one of the report’s authors, says Omaha-area agencies showed more diversity than social service providers at the national level. But she says there was less diversity when the agencies were compared by population.
Abrams says Family Housing Advisory Services and the Latino Center of the Midlands scored the highest among the Omaha-area social service providers. The boards of the Omaha non-profits were 82.5 percent white and 46.9 percent female, according to the report. Abrams hopes the Report Card will start a community conversation, and result in strategies to increase diversity.
The full report is available at www.progressiveresearchinstitute.org.