Our organization started as a concerned and motivated group of Mt. Lebanon residents inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Co-founded by Algernon Monroe and John Donoghue in June 2020, they immediately identified our two primary goals: pursuing law reform for policies that breed systemic racism in Mt. Lebanon and educating our community about racism and anti-racism.
In July, we established ourselves as the Mt. Lebanon Organization for Racial Equality, also known as M.O.R.E, and announced the formation of our two committees to focus on each of our goals. We then published our mission statement and the first iteration of our steering committee.
The Justice Reform Committee was our first committee to get to work. With our incredibly motivated members, the JRC is already doing a great job making change in Mt. Lebanon.
After further discussion about the differences between Equality and Equity, we changed our name to represent our decision to stand for racial equity: Mt. Lebanon Organization for Racial Equity.
Our Committees
To achieve our mission and work toward our vision for Mt. Lebanon, we at M.O.R.E created two committees, each one tackling the problem of systemic racism from a different angle. Our Anti-Racism Education Committee takes the bottom-up approach by connecting our community members with anti-racist education and advocacy whereas our Justice Reform Committee goes straight to the top, engaging directly with Mt. Lebanon’s political and police leaders.
Anti-Racism Education Committee (AREC)
Talking about racism can be uncomfortable, but ignoring it is worse. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) often experience racism in ways we white folks never even thought about, and suddenly expecting your BIPOC friends or family members to educate you can be harmful. That’s why M.O.R.E has an Anti-Racism Education Committee dedicated to developing advocates, allies, and accomplices for racial justice by providing educational content and training opportunities on current social justice legislation and the principles of anti-racism. AREC also partners with and learns from local social justice advocacy groups.
Justice Reform Committee (JRC)
The township of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, is over 90% white. We are not diverse and that is not an accident. Predominately white towns like ours have historically used systemic racism to prevent BIPOC from living here. The Justice Reform Committee (JRC) that M.O.R.E formed collaborates with community leaders to implement reforms that promote transparency in policy making, implementation, and outcomes. The JRC supports the election and retention of progressive candidates in local and state government.
Steering Committee (SC)
M.O.R.E is led by a Steering Committee made up of local Mt. Lebanon residents that oversee the activities of all committees by providing guidance and direction in accordance with our mission and vision. SC members are elected annually from within M.O.R.E’s membership.
Steering Committee Members:
- Donna DiNardo, Email SC Member DiNardo
- Asta Kill, Email SC Member Kill
- Holly McCullough, Justice Reform Committee Chair, Email SC Member McCullough
- Tessa Watkins, Digital Team Lead, Email SC Member Watkins
Contact all Steering Committee members at SteeringCommittee@LeboFightsRacism.com