diversity

The way I see it, the staff would not be doing the actual outreach work in terms of contacting outside groups. Instead, the work of staff would be helping provide the support structure and organization for the initiative. Currently, many of our wikiprojects and other initiatives fall apart because volunteers lack the time, and knowledge or skill about how to manage a project. An editor being enthusiastic about a topic does not mean that the person has the ability to lead a project. Having a staff person act as a resource would be helpful in many instances.

There's danger in assuming that the staff will "do" the work of outreach. I think (and I believe Frank would agree) that the role of the outreach staff is to, as FloNight says, create systems and processes by which the Foundation can support the work of the volunteers and work as a part of the community to do outreach. I really hope it doesn't become the "role" of the Foundation.