|
BOSTON -
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey today announced that she has
appointed Celina Barrios-Millner as Chief of Equity and Inclusion for the City of Boston, a
Cabinet-level position created last year to embed equity and racial justice into
all City planning and operations. Chief Barrios-Millner brings extensive
background to this role, as she previously led the Equity and Inclusion Unit within the Mayor’s
Office of Economic Development and was charged with implementing the Mayor’s Economic
Inclusion and Equity Agenda. In this role, she also oversaw the City’s
efforts to connect local residents, veterans, and people of color to
economic opportunity through the Boston Resident Jobs Policy (BRJP) and the Supplier Diversity programs.
Most recently,
Chief Barrios-Millner spearheaded an Executive Order signed in February that was designed to
support equitable procurement policies and create the framework to enact
race- and gender- conscious procurement goals to address existing
inequities. As part of the action taken in February, a $2 million
Supplier Diversity Program was created to implement new initiatives that
expand opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses. Building
on this announcement, Mayor Janey today announced key investments into staffing and programmatic
needs as part of the
Supplier Diversity Program.
“Celina has the
experience and expertise to lead Boston’s Equity and Inclusion Cabinet
with excellence, and has a proven track record of breaking down barriers
where they exist and expanding opportunity for all,” said Mayor Janey. “I
am confident that Celina will meet this moment with urgency to keep the
important work of the Equity and Inclusion cabinet at the center of our
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to working with her
in this new role.”
Under the
leadership of Chief Barrios-Millner, the Office of Equity and Inclusion
leads the Administration's efforts across departments to embed equity
into all city work, and actively work to dismantle racism by putting an
intentional focus on supporting communities of color and marginalized
groups across all departments. The Cabinet is tasked with building
equitable governmental structures to sustain this work. The Office
supports cross-department collaborative functions that advance innovative
equity and opportunity policies and practices, including the strategies
outlined in Imagine Boston 2030. To do this work, the office utilizes and
leverages the City's partnership and collaboration with community
residents, nonprofit organizations and business leaders to promote
equitable government policies and outcomes.
With the new role,
Chief Barrios-Millner’s former Equity and Inclusion Unit for the Office
of Economic Development will also move to the Equity and Inclusion
cabinet. This will help the cabinet drive and enforce policy, to
complement their advocacy in restructuring the city’s work through an
equity lens.
“I am proud to
serve the residents of Boston as Chief of Equity in this vital role at
this critical time,” said Chief Celina Barrios-Millner. “I am committed to working with the
incredible team at the Equity and Inclusion Cabinet to ensure we are
taking a citywide, community-informed approach to equity. I’m excited to
lead in leveraging city resources of city government to ensure access,
inclusion, and prosperity.”
Chief
Barrios-Millner brings over 20 years experience in social justice
advocacy and equity-driven institutional change. Throughout her career,
her efforts have been focused on community organizing, civic engagement
and strategic policy development. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office of
Economic Development, Chief Barrios-Millner led the creation of the City
of Boston’s Immigrant Advancement Agenda at the Mayor’s Office for
Immigrant Advancement (MOIA). Through this, she provided strategic
direction to departments to ensure that immigrant residents were at the
forefront of policy and program design. Previously, she led Partnership
Development for the State Office of Minority and Women Business
Assistance (SOMWBA) to generate business opportunities and resources for
certified woman- (WBE) and minority-owned businesses (MBE).
The Office of
Equity and Inclusion has previously spearheaded a number of initiatives
to expand access across the city, including projects such as the Boston Racial Equity Fund. The Fund's goal is to increase the
safety, wellbeing, equity, and prosperity of the Black and Brown
community, while advancing racial equity. In February, the Boston Racial Equity Fund joined efforts with
the New Commonwealth Fund to collaborate on advancing racial equity and dismantling
systemic racism in the City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Additionally,
since the Cabinet’s creation, the City of Boston established the Office
of Police Accountability and Transparency to investigate complaints of
police misconduct, ensure that the Boston Police Department's internal
affairs review process is fair and thorough, and ensure an equity lens
was incorporated to both existing and proposed policies and procedures.
This was a result of the work from the Boston Police Reform Task Force, a
group charged with reviewing a set of current Boston Police Department
policies and procedures. Their review resulted in recommendations for action and reform, which were fully accepted by the City of Boston in October 2020.
The Equity Cabinet
consists of the following departments and agencies, including: Resilience and Racial Equity, Diversity, Human Rights Commission, Women's Advancement, Immigrant Advancement, Language and Communication Access, and the Economic Mobility Lab.
|
沒有留言:
發佈留言