Amizade’s Nathan Darity selected for Mayor’s Council

Amizade’s Nathan Darity was tapped by Mayor William Peduto to be one the 40 person Welcoming Pittsburgh Advisory Council. Mayor Peduto’s citywide initiative to commemorate Pittsburgh’s immigrant past while simultaneously build a more welcoming future. The council was selected out of more than 100 candidates who applied through a public online process. The mayor launched the initiative on May 28.

Darity is a Program Director at Amizade as well as being the Project Manager for The Global Switchboard, Pittsburgh’s Home for Global Engagement. Also named to the Council was Thomas Buell, Jr. Buell, who works for both Global Pittsburgh and CEED, is a member of The Global Switchboard.

The goal of the council is to create a sustainable “Welcoming Pittsburgh” plan that will “engage both existing Pittsburgh residents and new ones, and synthesize welcoming practices into city government and its partners in local business, nonprofit and community groups.”

“I’m anxious to advocate for a welcoming and inclusive city in which people can freely engage to build a more socially just and equitable world,” said Darity. “I’m honored to represent, through my affiliation with Amizade and The Global Switchboard, a social profit coalition that is already grappling with making Pittsburgh a better global city.”

The Welcoming Pittsburgh plan will be drafted over the span of six months. Following the six month term of service, the Welcoming Pittsburgh Advisory Council will have the option to transition into Welcoming Pittsburgh Ambassadors. Those who are interested in becoming ambassadors will help take the plans curated by the council and implement them.

According a release from the Mayor’s office, Mayor Peduto believes that, “We are a stronger city, enriched with greater cultural and economic opportunity, when we create avenues that are accessible and welcoming to all of our residents — whether they have lived here for generations or are migrating to Pittsburgh for the very first time.”

The roadmap will seek to improve efficiencies by finding overlapping practices offered by different stakeholders in the community, and highlight opportunities for the Mayor’s Bureau of Neighborhood Empowerment to build a model for creating a more welcoming experience for immigrants in Pittsburgh.

The hiring of the facilitator and awareness-building materials for the first year of the initiative is underwritten with a $50,000 grant from the Hillman Family Foundations.

According the Mayor’s release, “the grant will also fund community conversations across the city and the production of marketing materials that the Bureau will use to build awareness for Welcoming Pittsburgh and the impact of immigrants in the city for its first three years.”