Westmoreland Diversity Coalition closes after 10 years; founder cites retirement, Trump DEI stance

The 10-year-old Westmoreland Diversity Coalition closed last month on the heels of the founder’s retirement and an evolving national diversity, equity and inclusion environment.

Local nonprofit leaders say advocacy organizations have made a noticeable impact over the years in Westmoreland County, but more work needs to be done to amplify diverse backgrounds in a majority white county.

Laurie Johnson-Wade, co-founder of the Lost Dreams Awakening drug recovery program in New Kensington, likens the situation to maintaining a garden.

“I think that we have done some really good ground preparation,” she said. “We have prepared the path toward what the administration already says exists. Do we need to continue to weed it and tend it? Yes we do.

“It’s like anything you plant — weeds are going to spring up. There might be fissures in the earth that need (to be) filled.”

Carlotta Paige founded the nonprofit in 2015 and served as its chief operating officer. To create the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition, she expanded on the annual Unity Rally she launched after the Ku Klux Klan came through Westmoreland County in 1997.

Becoming an official nonprofit proved more difficult than Paige anticipated. Local organizations were hesitant to partner with a coalition dedicated to diversity.

“The issue of diversity, nobody wanted to deal with (it),” said Paige, of Unity. “It’s been a challenge every day.”

But after a decade of fighting that battle, Paige decided to take a step back from the coalition this year. Without the backing of their leader, the board voted to close the organization, ceasing operations June 30.

‘This is Westmoreland County, and it’s hard enough’

Paige was president of the Greensburg-Jeannette NAACP when the Ku Klux Klan passed through her home county.

“Nobody wanted to do anything,” she said. “I felt we cannot have them coming to town spewing hate and not respond in some way.”

The rally became a regular celebration, drawing Westmoreland residents to march from St. Clair Park to the courthouse on Main Street once a year for about two decades, Paige said.

“Finally, somebody said to me one day, ‘Carlotta, this isn’t enough. We need to do more,’ ” she said.

The Westmoreland Diversity Coalition was founded in 2015, going on to host speakers, roundtable discussions with college students, a workplace diversity conference and a countywide billboard campaign featuring the work of 10 artists.

It has been difficult for the coalition to gain traction, Paige said, particularly in Westmoreland County — a community where nearly 92% of the 354,600-person population is white, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.

Further opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion — or DEI — imposed by President Donald Trump has only made the coalition’s mission more difficult, Paige said.

Trump put all federal DEI staff on paid leave shortly after his January inauguration. He threatened in April to cut funding to schools and colleges if they failed to eliminate DEI-related programs by Feb. 28 — a move that was later blocked by a federal judge.

Shortly after, fundraising and support for the coalition began to dry up, Paige said. Answering phone calls from residents disparaging the coalition’s efforts became a regular part of Paige’s routine.

“I said to myself, ‘This is Westmoreland County, and it’s hard enough,’ ” Paige said. “We’ve done some really good things, and I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. I don’t think that I can continue doing this (if) the challenge gets greater.”

According to a poll conducted in May by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about four in 10 Americans strongly or somewhat favor DEI programs in colleges and universities, while about three in 10 oppose those initiatives.

About three in 10 are neutral, according to the poll results. The poll surveyed 1,175 adults between May 1 and 5.

DEI has faced increasing opposition in the U.S. workplace, according to a 2024 report by Pew Research Center.

In February 2023, 16% of respondents said they viewed DEI as a bad thing, while 56% viewed it as a positive. By October of the following year, the DEI disapproval rating rose 5% and the approval rating dropped 4%.

Among the 19 school districts in Westmoreland County, only three serve communities with a white population under 90%, according to 2022 data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

The outliers are Jeannette City (79% white), Monessen City (74%) and New Kensington-Arnold (77%).

At 98%, Mt. Pleasant Area has the largest white population in the county.

Johnson-Wade considers Lost Dreams Awakening an ally of the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition by association, given that both organizations focus on helping people in need.

“When George Floyd was murdered and it was very public and everyone got on this DEI bandwagon, it was very performative,” she said. “I believe it lacked authenticity.

“In terms of the coalition, they preceded this, so I looked at their work as more authentic, more trying to create a perspective that together, we’re better.”

Johnson-Wade is choosing a “glass half full” mindset when it comes to Trump’s stance on DEI.

“If the administration feels as though we are on equal ground,” she said, “then the proof is in the pudding. And I would encourage everyone to live as though that’s true.”

Paige expects diversity efforts to continue

Paige is optimistic about the future of diversity advocacy in Westmoreland County.

“I think the county has made a lot of progress in terms of understanding and promoting the issues around diversity and the importance of difference,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that go on now that never went on before.”

Partners Jim Galik and Jean Slusser have no plans to stop their advocacy for the local LGBTQ+ community.

Slusser is president of the Greensburg branch of PFLAG — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays — and Galik leads the Westmoreland LGBTQ Interfaith Network. The duo has supported Paige’s diversity efforts since 2010, helping the coalition host its first DEI trainings for local mental health organizations.

“A lot of the organizations in the community attended those,” Slusser said, “and then from there, they established their own trainings.”

If it had not been for the Unity Rally, Slusser and Galik might not have made valuable connections with organizations such as the YWCA, Blackburn Center and Wesley Family Services.

“We’re so grateful to the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition,” Galik said. “Through our partnership with that organization, we’ve been able to develop relationships with so many other organizations. Because of the Diversity Coalition, we can all continue to work together, to move forward and to continue to cultivate mutual respect because of something that’s more important now than ever.”

The coalition helped give other organizations confidence to advocate for DEI, said Al Thiel, director of student involvement at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Pitt-Greensburg has supported the coalition since its founding, said Thiel, who served on the nonprofit’s board from its inception to 2024. The coalition helped the university expand its existing advocacy efforts, alongside diversity-focused leaders such as Assistant Dean of Students Leigh Hoffman and President Robert Gregerson, he said.

“It is sad that some of that relationship is not going to exist anymore,” Thiel said, “but I think the work is still going to be happening — just in different ways.”

Pitt-Greensburg will follow any federal rules and regulations handed down by the Trump administration, Thiel said. But making sure students feel welcome on campus will always be a priority.

“We’re going to keep doing that work … and making sure that people know that they are valued — that people recognize the value in difference and the value in having multiple perspectives on things,” he said. “Things may change — things have changed — because of federal mandates, and we respect those, but we’re also going to make sure that students always do feel welcomed and valued.”