Equity Coordinator (External)

Statement of Duties

Under the direction of the Director of Racial and Social Justice, the Equity Coordinator is responsible for advancing the City’s racial and social justice priorities through strategic leadership, program management, and data-driven evaluation.

This role integrates strategy, implementation, and analytics; leading cross departmental initiatives, managing key Equity & Belonging programs and stakeholder groups, and developing data systems to track, assess, and improve outcomes.

The Equity Coordinator ensures high-quality delivery of E&B initiatives by aligning policy, community engagement, and performance measurement to drive institutional change.

Essential Functions:

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

•  Provide leadership in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice initiatives across the organization.
• Support the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of E&B strategic plans and priorities.
•  Manage and coordinate key E&B bodies, including but not limited to:
  •  Equity Audit
  • Youth League
  • RSJ Fund
• Develop and track strategic frameworks, goals, and deliverables for E&B initiatives and Cabinets.
• Delegate work, allocate resources, and ensure alignment with departmental and citywide priorities.
• Represent the E&B Department at meetings, hearings, and public forums.
• Tracks the achievement of E&B milestones and provides brief written summary reports highlighting work completed, including any updates to the roadmap and recommended monitoring processes and activities.
• Assists other departmental staff in the performance of their duties as necessary.
• Conduct research on best practices, emerging trends, and benchmarks in racial equity and social justice.
• Translate research and data insights into actionable strategies and policy recommendations.
• Identify opportunities to improve internal systems, processes, and long-term sustainability.
• Advise departments and external partners on DEI and anti-racism implementation strategies.
•  Build and sustain partnerships with community organizations, government agencies, and stakeholders.
•  Conduct outreach to gather community input and align E&B initiatives with community needs.
• Collaborate with communications staff to support public information and media strategies.
• Serve as a facilitator, coach, and resource for staff, departments, and community partners.

Recommended Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Equivalent lived experience and demonstrated expertise in equity work and data-informed practice may substitute for formal education. Bachelor’s degree in public policy, public administration, data analytics, social sciences, or related field; and three (3) years of experience; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.
• At least two (2) years professional experience in supporting and maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs
• Applications demonstrating lived experience with proper knowledge of data management and organizational development in lieu of education are strongly encouraged.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill

Knowledge: municipal operations; public policy; data analysis practices and techniques; Project Management: strategy development, project design and implementation, project evaluation – assessing and measuring, in the field of diversity, inclusion and equity. Data related work includes developing performance dashboards, geospatial analysis, process mapping, database management, and financial analysis. Familiarity with municipal government and structure.

Experience with data management of diversity and inclusion impact metrics.

Abilities: The ability to listen, adapt and consider qualitative as well as quantitative data will be as instrumental in this role as the technical skillset to manage complex and evolving datasets.

Ability to design metrics for evaluating individual and organizational change. Be comfortable in a fast paced environment and capable of juggling multiple initiatives simultaneously, often against tight deadlines. Have strong collaboration skills, but also the ability to work autonomously. Be detailed oriented with a commitment to accuracy. Distinguish initial requests from true underlying needs. Apply effective judgment and discretion to maintain a high level of confidentiality when handling sensitive information. Ability to develop templates and tools to provide guidance and support to both technical and non-technical audiences. Establish and maintain effective and harmonious working relationships with diverse stakeholders regarding strategy, policy, operations, deliverables, timelines, and responsibilities; interact with the public effectively and appropriately; problem solve and think strategically, analytically, and creatively; learn new concepts quickly; collaborate, build consensus, and lead; be self-motivated and organized; handle problems and emergencies.

Skills: Demonstrated experience/skills in appropriate computer, statistical or database applications. Demonstrated ability to research issues and resources; basic record keeping and organizational skills. Proficient in operating personal computers and applicable word processing, spreadsheet, and statistical analysis applications, specifically MS Excel or other data analysis and visualization tools, such as R, Python, or Tableau; excellent written and oral communication, facilitation, and public speaking skills; excellent data analysis, database development and management, strategic thinking, problem solving, leadership and project management skills.

GIS skills and/or programming languages preferred but not required. Multilingual skills in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and/or Nepali preferred.

Work Environment

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours to attend evening meetings or complete work assignments.

Physical and Mental Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, such a specialized office equipment in order to perform the position’s essential functions.

Physical Skills : Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks.

Motor Skills: Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills.

Visual Skills: Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full time 
Salary: $75,000 - $78,000 
Union Status: Non-Union 
FLSA Status: Exempt 

 

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The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact the ADA Coordinator at Show phone number or View email address on cityofsomerville.applytojob.com.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completion of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union. Public Health Nurses are part of Union A (SMEA).
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.