Kathy D. Harrison (pictured center with some of her staff team) is the director of programs and artistic excellence at LEAP. Kathy is also the playwright, producer, and artistic director of The Movement, an uplifting acappella musical that tells the story of courageous school children risking life and limb to protest peacefully against segregation during the Civil Rights Era.

“At LEAP, our youth are not meeting activism at the intersection of arts and social justice for the first time,” said Kathy. “While their art powerfully connects to this era of racial awakening and global health crises, it wasn’t birthed here.”

In her role at LEAP, Kathy spearheads LEAP Young Artivists and LEAP Youth Ensemble, and also co-leads The Movement Experience alongside Monique Jarvis, the director of communications and corporate partnerships at LEAP.

“Our Young Artivists are positioned to respond creatively by connecting their artistic expression to community transformation and change agentry, an intentional pedagogical practice we call the ‘The LEAP Way,’” said Kathy.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is at the heart of LEAP’s organization and their programs. In response to BIPOC feedback, LEAP launched an internal racial equity movement. The organization:

• restructured departments to ensure empowered representation for staff of color,
• hired an external DEI facilitator,
• mandated Undoing Racism training for all staff and Board of Directors,
• moved DEI initiatives forward through their 3-year DEI cross-functional talent group,
• stewarded a DEI Subcommittee on the Board, and
• structured DEI Recruitment efforts for their Young Professional Junior Board and Network.

For more information about LEAP, click here.