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No Latino appointments yet from Kenney, but there is still time

Should diversity watchdogs be worried? Not yet. There's still roughly 50 appointments to go.

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Mayor-elect Jim Kenney announced four more appointments to his mayoral cabinet on Wednesday. Among them was early education advocate Anne Gemmell, who will serve as the city’s first ever Pre-K director, a position created by the Kenney administration.

But for almost one-third of the appointments made, there has yet to be a Latino on the cabinet.

Should diversity watchdogs be worried? Not yet.

So far, Kenney has appointed 23 members to executive positions, including the newly established role of chief diversity and inclusion officer that will be helmed by attorney Nolan A. Atkinson.

But there are still about 50 positions left to be filled in the next four weeks. This means that Kenney has his work cut out for him during the holiday season — not just filling the seats that to be filled, but ensuring that he lives up to his campaign promises.

Kenney’s spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said that the team is “100 percent committed to having an administration that reflects the diversity of Philadelphia.” Kenney’s enormous and fairly diverse transition team is co-chaired by Alba Martinez, Hitt added. It also has numerous Latino and Latina committee members “who are directly involved in our personnel decisions.”

For stakeholders in the Latino community who are watching personnel selection process closely, it should be noted that appointments are not being made in any particular order.

“Some positions just take more time to go through the search, interview and vetting process than others,” Hitt said in an email Monday.

To date, Kenney’s 23 appointments have been met mostly with praise. Salvatore J. Panto Jr., the mayor of the Easton, Pa., said Monday that Stephanie Monahon, Kenney’s choice for chief service officer, will be “a great asset” to the city.

In addition to the pre-k director and service officer, Kenney also brought Dr. Nina Ahmad to his inner circle as the deputy mayor for public engagement. Nellie Fitzpatrick, currently with Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration, will continue on as the director of the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs.

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