ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A 30-year advocate for diversity is set to join Allentown’s administration.
Kumari Ghafoor-Davis has been hired to serve as the city’s equity and inclusion coordinator, Mayor Matt Tuerk announced Tuesday.
Ghafoor-Davis will work to help Allentown officials develop a “supportive and inclusive workplace” and offer recommendations for managers and departments, according to a news release.
Ghafoor-Davis "will help us build a more inclusive workplace, inviting lots of different folks into the life of public service."Mayor Matt Tuerk
Ghafoor-Davis served as the director of racial ethnic justice at Community Action Lehigh Valley, where she helped create the “Color Outside the Lines” project and worked with regional groups advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion, the release states.
She’s been an adjunct professor in sociology and social work for more than two decades, including at Montclair State and Seton Hall universities.
“She will help us build a more inclusive workplace, inviting lots of different folks into the life of public service," Tuerk said in the release.
"As we become more inclusive, we can take on the task of delivering our services equitably, ensuring that every resident of the City of Allentown receives the support that they need to achieve wellbeing.”
'A more equitable fashion'
Ghafoor-Davis replaces Lucinda Wright, who was promoted in May 2023 to be the city’s first equity and inclusion coordinator. Wright served as Allentown’s special events manager for four years.
Allentown created an equity and inclusion coordinator position after it became “abundantly clear to us that we have to work to deliver city services in a more equitable fashion,” Tuerk said last year.
Funding for the $77,000-a-year job was approved as part of the city’s budgeting process for 2023.
Ghafoor-Davis’ hiring comes against the backdrop of a potential court fight between Tuerk and Allentown City Council over an ongoing investigation into claims of workplace discrimination and racism within city government.
Six of seven council members voted last week to hire an attorney to explore litigation against Tuerk after he refused to honor its contract for former FBI special Scott Curtis to lead that investigation.
Tuerk declared that contract “defective” and “void,” which calls into question whether Curtis will be paid by the city.
Council has shown it has no intention of restarting the hiring process — as Tuerk has suggested — to avoid litigation.
Residents and some council members had been calling for a probe since last summer when the Allentown branch of the NAACP published a letter with numerous allegations by and against city employees.
