Joseph Leadley
Senior Research Analyst
The Center for Economic Inclusion is pleased to announce Joseph Leadley as the new Senior Research Analyst in the Center’s Office of Innovation, Policy, and Research. Joseph joins the Center having most recently served as Data & Evaluation Manager for the Sanneh Foundation, where he led development and implementation of the organization’s program evaluation strategy and contributed to development of their strategic plan.
Joseph has demonstrated experience performing research and evaluation in support of racially equitable outcomes in myriad sectors including education, nonprofit, philanthropy, youth development, outdoor recreation, and food security. He shared that “interrogating root causes of the disparate outcomes experienced by communities of color across Minnesota introduced me to the crucial work underway at CEI, and I endeavor to join you in eliminating the upstream inequities that contribute to poverty, the achievement gap in schools, and mass incarceration.”
Joseph’s career has encompassed academic research, social entrepreneurship, DEI consulting, and program evaluation. The intersection of these fields has informed his approach to organization and systems change and reinforced his belief that it takes a diversity of tactics to improve lives for marginalized communities -- and that racial equity work cannot take place in a vacuum. “Relationships must guide our work as we learn and develop solutions in partnership with the individuals and organizations who carry the history and hope of individual neighborhoods,” he said.
As the Center’s Senior Research Analyst, Joseph will lead quantitative and qualitative analysis, undergirding the bedrock of the Center’s work to equip public and private sector employers to advance inclusive and equitable growth through data-informed action and shared accountability. He will develop research to deeply understand the current state of economic inclusion and identify research-based solutions, working collaboratively across the organization and with local and national researchers and practitioners to understand the current state of economic inclusion in different regions. He will also play a lead role in creating new versions and visualizations of the Regional Indicators for an inclusive economy in other markets.
In his spare time, Joseph continues to center equity in his role as Chair-Elect, for the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis Sailing Center. The Minneapolis Sailing Center has committed to getting more families of color involved in sailing and Joseph specifically created an Equity and Inclusion Initiative with a goal to increase diversity of board, staff, membership, and students to match demographics of Twin Cities community.