Jillian Harvey to become the MMA’s 1st equity officer

Jillian Harvey, who has spent years building more equitable communities and creating a more welcoming Commonwealth, will bring her experience and passion for social justice to the MMA on Nov. 12, when she becomes the organization’s first chief equity officer.

The MMA created the position to advance the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Harvey will work internally with the MMA staff and provide external support to municipalities around the state.

Harvey has led DEI efforts in Arlington for the past five years, while cofounding and chairing the Massachusetts Municipal DEI Coalition, and serving as president of the Mystic Valley NAACP Branch. Harvey was selected from dozens of applicants for her experience addressing DEI needs both locally and statewide.

“I’m really excited to see that this is an opportunity for the MMA to help really lead this work and advise towns and cities and help them move forward, because we want the whole Commonwealth to be successful, to be a welcoming and inclusive place, not just certain towns and cities,” Harvey said.

Though she has enjoyed her work in Arlington, Harvey had an epiphany when she saw the MMA job posting.

“This is what I want,” she said. “I enjoy facilitating. I really love working with people and helping them learn and understand, and take what they’re learning and actually put it into practice. So I’m excited to do all of that.”

A Framingham native, Harvey earned an anthropology degree from UMass Amherst, and worked for several years as a youth leader and art specialist for the Brookline Teen Center, and as a senior patient experience representative for the Autism Spectrum Center at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Her master’s degree studies in public affairs at Brown University inspired her current career. While in graduate school, she helped the program integrate DEI best practices, starting with student orientation.

In Arlington, Harvey started as the DEI coordinator in 2019, and later became the DEI director, building a team that includes an Americans With Disabilities Act coordinator and a community outreach and engagement coordinator. Under Harvey’s leadership, Arlington completed a community equity audit, implemented its first staff DEI trainings, increased cultural programming and held a community conversations series.

At the MMA, Harvey said she plans to begin by working with staff and board members to ensure that everyone is on the same page about DEI goals and why DEI is an organizational priority. She also wants to delve into the MMA’s existing DEI efforts, including its work with the consulting firm Racial Equity Group, which has developed a draft strategic plan and a toolkit that will be finalized for communities. She hopes to be a resource for questions and concerns, and plans to undertake a “listening tour” to build relationships with staff members, member groups, board members, and the MMA’s DEI Advisory Committee.

“I really want to get the full scope of how the organization works, and just getting to know people, understanding what their fears are about this work, what they’re excited about, what the culture is there,” Harvey said. “Because you can’t just come in wanting to change things. You need to understand and really actively listen.”

Harvey said local governments should engage in DEI work because of the broad impact they have on everybody’s lives, and the need to provide their services equitably. At the same time, different municipalities have different needs, and Harvey said that she wants to meet cities and towns where they are, asking them about their needs, and about the goals and visions they hold for their communities.

She said the MMA “really has the power to guide so many communities in the work.”

“It’s going to look different for everyone,” she said, due to differences in resources, staffing and demographics.

Harvey acknowledged that not everyone is receptive to the mission. She said she tries to get people to examine how things have been done traditionally, and to rethink how some things might need to be done differently in order to address the needs of more people.

“There are folks who are never going to welcome this work, and that’s fine,” she said, “but just recognizing that we’re going to keep it moving, and just having grace for folks, because you never really know what someone’s dealing with.”

When not engaged in DEI and social justice work, Harvey enjoys the outdoors, swimming and roller skating. She also enjoys a good pun, along with music, dancing and good food, and, “I love plants, I have so many plants.”