Mayor Walsh Creates Office of Diversity

Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the creation of his Mayor’s Office of Diversity on Tuesday.

According to a recent press release, Mayor Walsh will also appoint the City’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer, Shaun Blugh, and Deputy Chief Diversity Officer, Freda Brasfield.

“Even before being sworn in as Mayor, I made some very ambitious and serious promises about increasing diversity across our workforce and ensuring that City government reflects the people we represent,” said Mayor Walsh. “I’m proud of the steps we’ve taken and the progress we’ve made, and I know that the addition of Shaun in this Chief Diversity Officer role will serve to strengthen and grow the foundation we’ve built.”

The Mayor’s Office of Diversity will lead Mayor Walsh’s diversity agenda, including the ongoing development and delivery of the City’s diversity goals and objectives in areas of hiring, leadership and career development, diversity training, strategic planning, recruitment and retention. The division will also be tasked with analyzing and improving the City’s procurement strategies, to support and increase opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses to engage directly with the City of Boston.

The Chief Diversity Officer and Deputy Chief Diversity Officer will perform outreach to community, academic, and business organizations in order to increase diversity of employee candidate pools, and assist in the development of hiring processes to ensure maximum opportunities for employment and career advancement for candidates from underrepresented demographic groups.

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