For more than a decade the PRSA Foundation has promoted the need for a more diverse profession while supporting programs that attract, assist and prepare young adults from underrepresented backgrounds. More recently, we have built upon this effort by playing a primary role in helping to launch the Diversity Action Alliance (DAA), a coalition of PR and communications organizations dedicated to improving DE&I within the profession.

We extend our gratitude to the many volunteers who have helped the PRSA Foundation play a key role in scaling up the DAA, particularly in recent months as our organization has been working with limited resources due to impacts from COVID-19.

We’re proud of the PRSA Foundation’s role in growing the DAA. At the same time, we have been collaborating with our partners in the Alliance on how to best align our collective resources to accelerate these efforts.

Working in collaboration with our partners within the DAA we have re-aligned roles and resources so that Page, PRSA and PR Council will serve as the principal financial supporters of the Alliance. While the PRSA Foundation will continue to be an active member of the DAA, we are now refocusing our efforts on our core mission of supporting students and emerging talent of diverse backgrounds. Below is an announcement from DAA that provides details on the re-alignment.

This re-alignment, which includes increased financial support from Page, PRSA and PR Council, enables Carmella Glover to continue as Executive Director of the DAA. Carmella will also serve as Page’s part-time director of DE&I, and Page will now serve as the primary in-kind sponsor of DAA, a role formerly held by the PRSA Foundation. As such, Carmella – who had taken a temporary leave of absence from PRSA Foundation due to the financial impacts posed by COVID – will not return to the Foundation. We fully support Carmella in making this transition and look forward to continuing to work with her through the Alliance. In the immediate, PRSA Foundation is receiving staff support via volunteers and from PRSA.

The PRSA Foundation remains passionately committed to helping improve DE&I within the profession through our renewed focus on scholarships, education and research to benefit students and emerging professionals of diverse backgrounds, as well as through our support of the DAA and our partnership with PRSA and PRSSA – which most recently included the establishment of a new multicultural scholarship endowment.

Thank you for your continued support of the PRSA Foundation, and please see below for an announcement on the re-alignment that was posted on the DAA website this morning.

Diversity Action Alliance Re-aligns Resources

Glover to Remain Executive Director

NEW YORK, September 30, 2020 - To help address DE&I gaps within public relations and strategic corporate communication organizations, members of the Diversity Action Alliance (DAA) are re-aligning roles and resources to help increase support and momentum behind the Alliance.

The DAA is a cross-industry coalition dedicated to increasing recruitment, retention and representation in management for people of color and other under-represented groups. The DAA Steering Committee includes representatives from leading organizations within the PR/strategic communication profession.  They are all equal partners in the governance of the coalition: AMEC, ColorComm, Forum-Group, HPRA, ICCO, Institute for Public Relations, The LAGRANT Foundation, The Museum of Public Relations, NBPRS, NYWICI, Page, The Page Center, The Plank Center, PR Council, PRSA, and PRSA Foundation.

As part of the re-alignment:

• Page, PR Council and PRSA will serve as the primary financial supporters of the DAA and are expanding their efforts to engage senior leaders to improve DE&I within their organizations.
• Page will provide the primary in-kind support for the DAA, including back office, financial management and HR support (previously provided by PRSA Foundation).
• PR Council will mobilize agency CEOs and Chief Diversity Officers to advance DAA programming and strengthen D&I within PR firms.
• The Institute for Public Relations is driving efforts to help improve data transparency and track D&I progress in critical areas (i.e. recruitment, retention, representation in management) and providing part-time staffing support.
• PRSA Foundation, in partnership with PRSA, will concentrate its efforts on supporting students and new professionals.

“The DAA is appreciative to the PRSA Foundation for its primary role in helping to launch the Alliance and for the continued support and engagement that it will receive from PRSA, PRSSA and the Foundation,” said Alliance Co-Chair Pat Ford of the University of Florida.  “Carmella Glover will continue as executive director of the DAA as her primary role and focus, with support from Page staff.” Glover previously served as Executive Director of the PRSA Foundation, but now will join Page as its part-time director of DE&I.

As its first initiative, the DAA has launched an effort to engage communications organizations to commit to adopting D&I best practices and to share their D&I data which will be included in an aggregated benchmark study via an annual survey led by the Institute for Public Relations. To date, more than 170 leaders of PR/communication departments and agencies have signed the Diversity Action Alliance Commitment on behalf of their enterprises. An additional 175 individuals have also signed on, making a personal commitment to the cause. The survey will include industry data on recruitment, retention and advancement at all levels, including representation in management, along with insights to help drive progress.

“This is just a start,” Glover said. “Ultimately, the success of DAA will be grounded in our industry’s ability to deliver meaningful and measurable results, specifically in recruiting and retaining diverse talent, and particularly in senior-level positions.”

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