Senior Advisor April Anthony started the project by meeting with the leadership team and Demarra West of Change Agent Consulting to understand the current culture and the work that had been completed to get there. She also learned MHO’s core values and the norms the organization agreed to in living those values. Together, they built a very diverse list of resources to advertise and network the openings through national, state, and local associations and institutions including HBCUs. Partnering with West to ensure equity, Anthony shared the position profile, interview processes, and questions with West for review at every step. West was also an integral part of all interviews and used their network to share the opportunity.

In addition to ensuring equity, Anthony also shone a light on Asheville as a dynamic community to help candidates outside of the region consider the benefits of relocating to join the MHO team. MHO’s marketing staff created a vibrant position profile to use as a marketing tool highlighting the quality of living, arts, and recreation in Asheville. “I love Asheville, the mountains, the drum circle and the restaurants,” said Anthony “But in spite of all the diverse lived experiences of the people of Asheville, there has been significant decline in black residents. We worked hard to recruit a talented and diverse candidate pool with each search we partnered with MHO. It did not always equate to a racially diverse hire, but it did give them a broad spectrum of talented humans to consider.”