Framingham Residents Push For Diversity Director To Begin In July

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Some Framingham residents are pushing the City Council to fund and fill the city's first diversity director position by July. The push comes in reaction to the Finance Subcommittee's recommendation to postpone filling five of the new jobs listed in the mayor's budget, including the diversity director. Over a dozen residents spoke during Tuesday's City Council meeting in support of the position. The next fiscal year starts on July 1.

The new diversity director would report to the mayor and spearhead issues of equity in the city and help guide other departments, including the schools, according to the budget message. The position has been proposed in last year's budget but was struck down by the City Council. The council argued the functions and job description were not clear on how the position would help diversity within the government.

Speaking in support of the position was Juan Cofield, president of the New England area conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Cofield said the diversity in the city was changing, "As a part of that change, there needs to be a change in the operations of the city, and a diversity officer would put you in a position to get it right."

The city recently hired a consultant to study diversity within city government and the findings backed the mayor's proposal of a diversity director. A key finding in the report mentioned a lack of ethnic/racial and cultural representation in government offices can lead to barriers in the community.

Councilor at Large George King, who initiated the proposed postponement said the council needed more time to go over all five of the new positions the mayor proposed but added that the funding would be available in October. Members in support of the postponement want to use the three months to take a closer look at the job description.

Councilor at Large Cheryl Tully Stoll added that she would like the job description to include a requirement for the applicant to speak Spanish or Portuguese, two of the city's most common languages. "I want the diversity officer that we hire to represent the diversity of our community. There are people not in this room tonight for a reason," she said.

Cesar Stewart-Morales, a District 2 resident who recently announced his run for City Council, argued that the people of Framingham should not have to wait any longer for a diversity director. "It doesn’t matter to the people whether it is the City Council or the mayor’s office causing the delay. We don’t need another three months to figure out what to do on this," he said. Morales said the mayor should be the only one evaluating the effectiveness of the new hire since they will report directly to her, and that since she advocated for the position for two years now, has the most to lose from its failure.

The council will vote on the budget at its next meeting on June 18.