Black-Focused Think Tank Announces Campaign Pushing Congress To Diversify Top Staffing Positions

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (JCPES) has announced a new campaign calling on Congress to prioritize racial diversity in its top staffing positions.

The Hill reports the JCPES, which calls itself “America’s Black Think Tank,” has launched a website called Hill Diversity that will track the diversity trends of the top staff of every member of Congress.

“One key step to advance racial equity in our country is to ensure that members of Congress are advised by top staff who represent the diversity of our nation,” JCPES President Spencer Overton said in a statement. “These critical staff roles influence lawmaking, a multi-trillion dollar budget process, and the Senate confirmation process, and provide oversight of the work done by over 4.2 million federal employees.”

“The perspectives and decisions of top congressional staff shape the lives of everyday Americans—especially those from communities of color.”

In addition to the campaign and website, the JCPES will send a letter that has been signed by more than 70 diverse organizations and stakeholders to members of Congress, all of which support increased diversity in top and mid-level congressional staffing positions.

The campaign and website come on the heels of an October report showing that 18% of all top House staff are people of color. Things are worse in the Senate where 11% of top staff are people of color. The campaign also comes at a time when the Biden administration, the most diverse in American history, is in the White House.

While Democratic offices are more diverse than Republican offices, pay disparities between Black and white workers in Democratic offices persist.

LaShonda Brenson, a senior researcher at the JCPES, told The Hill that the lack of diversity in congressional offices is detrimental because “key voices and perspectives are not being heard in rooms where major decisions are made.”