Just as I recently blogged on the fact that it is high time to have a woman as the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) administrator, this email highlights the disparity that exists in the organization as a whole, and likely is mostly true in states and local jurisdictions, too.
While the email is four months old, the situation remains largely the same — everywhere, I'm sure. Certainly with the Biden administration coming into office there will be a push to have more diversity in the senior appointed positions.
Now, for the rest of emergency management, it is up to us to seek out and find qualified persons to fill vacant positions of responsibility. To fix this long term, we have to be doing better at recruiting people into the profession who have not been attracted in the past.
Here's the email:
THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD NOMINATE A WOMAN TO BE THE NEXT FEMA ADMINISTRATOR
In a little over three months, American will cast their ballots for the next President of the United States. President Biden should nominate a woman to be the next FEMA Administrator. In doing so, he will not only make the emergency management profession more diversified, but reflective of a changing America. Moreover, he’ll make for a more resilient and responsive emergency management profession and make history!
During a campaign event in 2008, former president Barack Obama told a crowd that “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” Although a different context, the porcine proverb still applies. When Peter Gaynor became the latest FEMA Administrator, he promised to put “people first.” Let’s just say that this is still aspirational. But, if you follow the Agency’s social media accounts, the Agency has been profiling it’s employees to reflect more diversity. Terrific! More recently, the Agency introduced the “New FEMA.gov” – a new and improved website – FEMA 2.0. A refinement long overdue. It looks great! Hats off to my former colleagues.
But where it matters most – leadership – FEMA is still the same old FEMA – male and white (I can say this because I’m both). If it has an occupant in a leadership role (the Deputy Administrator, the Deputy Administrator for Resilience and position of Response and Recovery), these critical positions are either vacant or filled with a person in an “acting” capacity. So, the changes are really cosmetic and not transformative. Still, as of this post, FEMA has no females nor African-Americans in key and senior (Senate confirmed) positions.
Of course, this is not to say the folks in the “acting” roles are not capable of providing exceptional leadership – they do. I know. I worked and supported them. But, the current leadership hierarchy is not reflective of America. That’s too bad because a diversified work force is an asset, something the Agency knows and underscores in its materials.
As I recently pointed out in an Open Email to the President of the United States and the Presumptive Democratic Presidential Candidate - FEMA IS A TOXIC AND HOSTILE WORKING ENVIRONMENT & FEMA's ‘Leadership Gender Gap,’" (July 21, 2020), I wrote about the lack of female leaders in critical leadership positions. This is what I underscored:
FEMA “LEADERSHIP GENDER GAP”
But the more I think about it – FEMA has a bigger problem. FEMA has a “leadership gender gap,” which might partially account for the current toxic and hostile working environment.
Three years ago, as part of my studies for my masters in Emergency and Disaster Management, at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies, I wrote a paper entitled: “Women at the Top, Socio-cultural Implications of Having Women in Leadership Positions in Emergency Management.” In that paper, I answered the question – from a socio-cultural perspective, does having women in top leadership positions – Secretary, Administrator, national association president, board of director chair, etc. – in emergency management matter/have an impact? My conclusion – based on the data and professional and personal experience – was a resounding YES. In that study, I also noted the following startling facts:
• The United States Presidency
Since the founding of the nation in 1776, there has never been a woman president of the United States;
• DHS
The Department has had only one female Secretary – Janet Napolitano – who served from 2009 – 2014;
• FEMA
Like the presidency, FEMA has never had a female Administrator. In the Agency’s 41 years, it has only had a woman in the temporary capacity of Acting Administrator.
Again, with all due respect to all of the talented males at the Agency, as of March 4, 2020, women at FEMA were doing no better. At FEMA Headquarters, while there are extremely capable women in important positions, key positions are occupied by males, in an permanent or acting capacity – the Administrator, the Deputy Administrator (vacant), Deputy Administrator for Resilience, Office of Response and Recovery, Chief Counsel and the Chief of Staff. The rare exception is in the critical Grant Programs Directorate, headed by a presidential appointee and extremely talented Bridget Bean, Assistant Administrator. The situation at the regional offices, is even worse – only two of the Regional Administrators are women … .
The current status quo – a toxic and hostile working environment, harassment and retaliation (illegal and destructive) and the leadership gender gap – demand immediate corrections. Ignorance of a problem is not a plan. The current conditions are a reflection of a failure of leadership.
Moreover, forwarding grievances to bureaucratic divisions within the Agency (Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) are time consuming and opaque mechanisms (OPR restricting access to one’s documents – one must file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – to access the results of its investigation) that don’t offer timely solutions to grievances.
FEMA’s workforce deserves better. After nearly 15 years of exceptional service to its leadership and the Agency – I deserve better. The good news, is that the current issues and vacancies are opportunities to make the Agency a more robust, fair and a just working environment for all – females and males. The American people deserves no less.
Should you win re-election or should your opponent win the presidency this November, this needs to be a priority. Actually, it needs to be a priority NOW.
It looks like the Gaynor Administration at FEMA read my email. It was with great pride and joy that I learned yesterday that former Assistant Administrator for Grant Programs, Bridget Bean, has been elevated to the Deputy Administrator position. Even if in the “acting” capacity, no doubt an applaudable step forward and another crack in the “glass ceiling.” It could not have happened to a better person! Congratulations Deputy Administrator Bean!
FEMA “LEADERSHIP RACIAL GAP”
Why stop now? Dare I propose not just a female, straight or transgender, Administrator but a minority? A native American Indian, African-American, Asian-American, or Latina-American? I posit that the time has come. Apparently, I’m not the only who thinks this is so.
This past July 28, 2020, the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management held a hearing entitled: “Experiences of Vulnerable Populations During Disaster.” One of the witnesses testifying was recently appointed State Coordinator of Emergency Management, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Curtis Brown. While he was testifying on behalf the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM) – an organization committed to diversity and inclusion in emergency management – he could have easily been speaking for all of us progressives in the profession. Here’s a link to this testimony. I encourage you to read it and share it. Well done Coordinator Brown! Pleased you’re a fellow Virginian. Happy to work with you in the future.
I think we’re on to something great here!
Frank Ferreira / Mario Francisco da Costa Ferreira
201-851-3992
ff240@georgetown.edu / LinkedIn
