A Fire Department Under Pressure to Diversify

The New York Times
By ALAN FEUER
Published: August 26, 2011

IT was heaving rain two weeks ago when Salvatore J. Cassano, New York City’s fire commissioner, showed up on a Sunday to pitch his department to the congregants at Concord Baptist Church of Christ on Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn. No doubt because of the weather — people had stayed home at “Bedside Baptist,” the pastor joked — Mr. Cassano, gamely dressed in pinstripes, was confronted by empty pews. A trumpeter had just played hymns to some restless boys, a few old men and clumps of hatted matrons. From a microphone, the commissioner delivered to the half-filled room what had become the most important, and thorniest, public message of his career.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/nyregion/a-fire-department-under-pressure-to-diversify.html?nl=nyregion&emc=ura3

After Diversity Lawsuit, FDNY Hiring in Limbo

The Network Journal
By: COLLEEN LONG
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Black American

Paul Washington is a New York City firefighter, like his dad and his uncle before him. His brother is also on the job. Some of his cousins are firefighters, too.
Family legacies aren't unusual in the Fire Department of New York, but the Washingtons are — because they are black. And the nation's largest fire department remains an overwhelmingly white force.
But a federal lawsuit, a court order and a revamped application system are offering a glimmer of a future in which the FDNY could become as diverse as the population it serves — a goal other big-city departments have already achieved.

Full Story: http://www.tnj.com/news/black-american/after-diversity-lawsuit-fdny-hiring-sits-limbo