Desiree Williams-Rajee is the Equity Specialist for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. In her 8 years working in the public sector she has been involved in a variety of equity efforts including the creation of the City’s Office of Equity and Human Rights and the publication of the Racial Equity Strategy Guide. Her role in her department focuses on culture change towards a multi-cultural anti-racist organization, while concurrently providing support to use an equity lens in the programs, policies and services of the Bureau. Recently, Desiree was honored by the White House as a Climate Equity Champion of Change for her work on the City of Portland Multnomah County Climate Action Plan which has set forth a new model of engagement and policy making for other cities in North America.

She is an active member of the community and currently serves on the board of Verde, a Portland organization that serves communities by building environmental wealth through social enterprise, outreach and advocacy. She was also a founding board member for the Center for Diversity and the Environment and has this past year established the Environmental Justice workgroup for the Portland African American Leadership Forum.

Twitter: @PortlandBPS