BOSTON – The host committee for the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston has added three black members and four women to its board of directors in an effort to address diversity concerns.

The appointments came after a meeting last week between David A. Passafaro, president of Boston 2004, and leaders of the Boston NAACP branch.

“I’d like to think they are listening to what we had to say,” Leonard Alkins, the Boston NAACP president, told the Boston Herald.

The board’s expansion to 14 members comes a month before the committee is scheduled to submit a community outreach plan to the Democratic National Committee, and a week after Mayor Thomas M. Menino eliminated the city’s 25-year-old affirmative action contracting program.

“The additions are a cross-section of the community,” Passafaro said.

The new black directors are Juanita Wade, Menino’s human services cabinet chief; Clayton Turnbull, a city business owner; and Dorothy Terrell, a former executive with Sun Microsystems.

The other new additions are Kathleen Casavant, treasurer of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO; David Burke, former chief of staff to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and an organizer of Robert Reich’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign; and Micho Spring, a public relations executive.

“It appears the new directors have some expertise to make sure the outreach program will be a reality,” Alkins said.

Others on the committee are Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; Gloria Larson, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority chairwoman; hotel executive David Colella; Realtor James Dougherty; and Democratic fund-raiser and businessman Fred Seigel.

Also on the committee is Cheryl Cronin, a lawyer who raised $21.2 million in private commitments to help land the convention.

Before the most recent additions, the only black member was Carol Bolling Fulp, a community relations executive for John Hancock.

NAACP leaders and Menino clashed over convention commitments to minority contracting and hiring after Boston was awarded the event in November.

Menino did not make definite commitments but hired a public relations consultant to produce a plan that involves minority groups and city neighborhoods in the event.

Menino’s elimination of the city’s minority contracting program should have no bearing on convention contracts, Alkins said.

“It’s not the same thing,” he said. “Folks should have the same opportunity to get contracts at these events.”