Joshua V. Barr is an Emmy and national award-winning transformational leader from South Carolina with an MBA and Juris Doctorate who has trained people on human rights, diversity, equity, and inclusion issues from all 50 states and five continents. Throughout his career, Joshua worked in Colombia, South America, conducting investigations on institutional corruption, leading the English language immersion program at Javeriana University, and conducting corporate law with Corn Products International. Joshua tried to force a corporate career but couldn’t run from who he truly was: a person who wanted to solve human issues to create a fairer world; so he moved into the civil/human rights field. Joshua moved back to the US and became the Staff Attorney and Fair Housing Director of the State of South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, where he laid the foundation for the civil rights agency to be more aggressive in its enforcement of civil rights violations.
During his time with the Commission, Joshua retrained the investigations staff assisting them in finding more than sixty probable cause discrimination violations in 2015, the highest number of probable cause cases in South Carolina history at that time. Joshua later became the director of the Des Moines Civil & Human Rights Commission where he transformed a department on the verge of being shut down a year earlier into an integral part of the Des Moines municipal government. During his tenure as director, he increased the number of complaints filed in the office by 170% and the number of probable cause discrimination cases by 500%, he also transformed an annual local human rights symposium into a tri-state symposium increasing attendance at the event by 250%.
One of Joshua’s proudest moments in solving human issues was the Bridging the Gap initiative where his team at the Des Moines Commission conducted community dialogues throughout the city determining what could be done to increase opportunity and make a safe, more just community for all. Through that initiative, Joshua and his team were able to craft, develop, and implement over 25 new city policies and practices designed to improve community-government relations and help residents move up the socioeconomic ladder. In 2020, Joshua debuted his Emmy award-winning documentary Breaking Bread, Building Bridges where nearly 40 strangers were matched up together based on their differences to have dinners over a few months. Joshua served as the creator, director, and executive producer of the documentary/project. The documentary was awarded the 2020 Governor’s Emmy Award for the Upper Midwest Region, the region’s highest honor.
Joshua has won several other awards, including being named #5 of the top 100 influencers in local government in the United States by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) organization in part for his article A Better Way: 50+ Action Items to Fight Against Racism In Your Community. Other awards include Top 100 US Corporate Executive Leaders Under 50, 2019 Public Servant of the Year by the Des Moines Neighborhood Associations, and the 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. Make-A-Difference Award by the Greater Des Moines YMCA. Joshua now serves as the Chief Strategist and President of his organization, Raising The Barr, where he collaborates with and consults government entities, not-for-profits, and other organizations committed to transforming their cultures and improving socioeconomic outcomes for their community stakeholders.
