Diversity Council of Rochester to end

(ABC 6 News) – The Diversity Council (DC) of Rochester announced in statement on Tuesday that they will wind down operations and develop a dissolution plan after a vote by the Council’s Board of Directors.

The DC said the vote happened on Saturday, Feb. 25 and the decision was “not taken lightly and was made only after all alternatives were considered and explored.”

The DC will be concluding all programming on Mar. 8 and laying off staff over the next two weeks.

Approximately 10 months ago, the DC Board began investigations into community and staff concerns brought to the Board’s attention. Ultimately, the Board determined that a new direction in leadership was needed.

In late January, the DC Board hired consultants of Allred Consulting, and after a comprehensive review of the previous year and taking the entire picture of organizational health into account, the DC said it became apparent that they did not have the financial and human resources or sufficient stakeholder support to continue.

After considering many options, including trying to continue and grow the organization or merge with another DEI nonprofit, the DC Board came to the conclusion that the only path forward was to move toward dissolution. This will allow the transfer of much-needed DEI resources to partner organizations and provide space for healing to those individuals and communities who were previously harmed.

The DC began in 1989 as Building Equality Together when the leadership of Rochester Public Schools recognized the need to combat racism and discrimination in schools. School district staff worked with community leaders to form an independent nonprofit organization to meet this need. Over the years, the DC has existed to compel both equitable access and equitable outcomes for all people, regardless of identity. The DC is working to ensure all of the important programming is transferred to other organizations doing similar work in the community.

The DC said they have been consulting with an attorney over the previous weeks and is working incompliance with Minnesota Statute 317A which covers nonprofit corporations and the process for dissolution.

More information will be released as soon as plans are finalized.