Arlington Hires First Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Coordinator

ARLINGTON, MA — The town has named Jillian Harvey its first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, Director of Health and Human Services Christine Bongiorno announced Thursday. Harvey started Monday, Dec. 30. She will coordinate the work of Arlington's Disability Commission, Human Rights Commission and Rainbow Commission, according to the town.

Harvey will also take part in the town's racial equity efforts over the next year in partnership with the National League of Cities' REAL (Race, Equity and Leadership) Initiative as well as GARE (Government Alliance on Racial Equity).

"Jillian's professional and personal experiences exposed her to the realities of lack of access to healthcare and the educational gaps within certain communities, which compelled her to further serve those communities and combat social injustices," Bongiorno said in a statement. "Jillian is excited to join the Arlington community and is committed to advancing positive change in the town."

A Framingham native, Harvey has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master's degree in public affairs from Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. While pursuing her master's degree at Brown, Harvey focused on U.S. public policy and assisted in advancing the program's diversity and inclusion initiatives by researching best practices, creating cultural competency activities and developing diversity programming and training.

Prior to pursuing her master's degree, Harvey worked in the Autism Spectrum Center at the Boston Children’s Hospital and as a youth leader at the Brookline Teen Center.