THE CITY debuted in 2019 with a mission to serve New Yorkers — some 8.8 million of us, according to the latest census figures — through journalism.
Our nonprofit newsroom is charged with covering the most vibrant, diverse city on Earth — a task that requires a team up to the challenge, on all levels.
Our full-time editorial and business lineup, currently 23 members strong, brings a rich mix of work and life experiences.
While our staffers hail from various backgrounds, we’re very cognizant we have a way to go in terms of better reflecting the city we serve. And we have much additional work to do in bringing more diversity to the senior ranks of our newsroom, where women and people of color are underrepresented.
We issued our first diversity report after our debut in April 2019. Since releasing our second report in July 2020, THE CITY has seen six full-time staff leave, including four women and two men. Of those who left, three identify as people of color.
Five people have been hired since last year’s report — three women and two men. Three of the staffers who have joined us identify as people of color.
As of this writing, we’re advertising four positions — including editor in chief and the new role of director of development. We hope to further expand our team in 2022, offering additional opportunities for both hiring and promotion.
Last year, we set some appropriately ambitious goals for making our newsroom more equitable. We’ve made some strides — including creating a uniform hiring structure, enlisting a more diverse group of interns than in 2020 and establishing an equal vacation time policy for all full-time employees.
Still, we’ve fallen short so far in some key areas, including failing to commission a compensation study of our full-time team and a sourcing audit to help us judge whether we’re including a rich diversity of voices in our stories. We also have yet to add dedicated human resources support for our staff.
We’re recommitting to those goals and others where we’ve missed the mark. The demands of serving our city and our team requires us to redouble efforts and resources.
The graphics below, focused on race and gender, were drawn from voluntary surveys of our full-time team, regular contributors, most recent interns and board of directors.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but offer a snapshot of where we’ve been, where we are and give us a benchmark as we chart where we’re headed in 2022 and beyond.