As vice president of social responsibility for the YMCA, Shanee’ Jenkins’ responsibilities include mission advancement, fundraising and diversity/equity/inclusion. In 2018, her contributions helped the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee become the 79th member of the YMCA of the USA’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Global (DIG) Innovation network.
She chairs both an internal staff and a board-sponsored volunteer committee comprised of Milwaukee diversity equity inclusion (DEI) officer thought-leaders.
Jenkins advocated for the Y to be one of the initial nonprofit organizations to sign the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s (MMAC) Region of Choice pledge committed to improving diverse hiring and management at businesses and organizations in the region.
In the fall of 2020, she co-planned the Wisconsin Y’s Fall State Alliance Leadership Conference, which focused on social justice and inclusion. This advocacy led to the first ever YMCA Statewide Social Responsibility committee. She also chairs the Y’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, and launched the annual Martin Luther King Youth Engaged Event, and the 2021 Deliberate Dialogues event featuring panel discussions on social determinants of health.
In addition, Jenkins executed the Y’s Welcoming America-Do It Together collaboration in 2020 when four Milwaukee nonprofit organizations worked with immigrant populations by educating and building cross-cultural awareness, oversaw the Y Youth Leaders Engaged program for Boys and Young Men of Color, and linked the Y to Feeding America, resulting in more than 3,000 boxes of food being donated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
