St. Louis hasn’t had someone at the helm of its diversity and equity efforts since 2018, but that changed earlier this month with the addition of Vernon Mitchell.
“I think this is an amazing opportunity to really shine a light on what St. Louis can be and what it’s going to be and not just solely be focused on St. Louis’ past.” —Vernon Mitchell
Mitchell began his role as chief equity and inclusion officer Jan. 3 after his appointment was announced Dec. 29. His predecessor, Nicole Hudson, served under Mayor Lyda Krewson’s administration and left in August 2018 for a position at Washington University. The position sat vacant until now.
Mitchell, Ph.D., has a lengthy professional background in the academic field and said he will focus on how both qualitative and quantitative data can help inform the city’s decisions when it comes to closing the income gap and increasing equity among St. Louis residents.
“I think this is an amazing opportunity to really shine a light on what St. Louis can be and what it’s going to be and not just solely be focused on St. Louis’ past, but we cannot create a sustainable future without understanding how the past is operating in our day-to-day lives,” Mitchell told The St. Louis American.
He noted while he doesn’t believe the city’s past has to be seen as a negative thing, it should serve to arm the city with knowledge of how to create structures and policies that are sustainable and productive.
The St. Louis native was formerly a research assistant professor and instructor of record on African American studies courses within the University of South Carolina’s Department of History and African American Studies.
Prior to this, he worked at Washington University in St. Louis, where he developed academic engagement programs as a curator of popular American arts & culture. He also was the principal investigator for documenting the role of social media in local social movements.
“The chief equity and inclusion officer will help the city of St. Louis bring all communities to the table to address the collective problems our city faces,” St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a prepared statement. “I am excited Dr. Mitchell is bringing his knowledge and expertise to help ensure St. Louis government is more equitable across racial lines.”
On the job for just under three weeks now, Mitchell has mainly worked from home due to the omicron variant. He said right now, his priorities are understanding the environment and the culture of city hall by getting to know the people in all the departments making up the city’s government.
“And then I’ll start tackling some of the issues that are earmarked for me to really pay attention to,” he said.
Of course, the pandemic has prevented Mitchell from the face-to-face interaction he would like to have with the community and his colleagues, but he knows the work can still be done to create equity across the board. While it also impacted certain communities disproportionately, Mitchel said he believes COVID-19 has also served an important role in illuminating the fact that these gaps are real and prevalent.
“This is a point … where you can begin to layer quantitative and qualitative [COVID] data,” he said. “The most affected communities tend to be communities of color and the Black community in particular. And so, as we get the data, the qualitative aspect of that is making sure that the citizens in those areas know or can see and feel at what point is their lives are touched by city hall—that they know that we are doing our best to make sure we’re listening to their concerns and that the policies we roll out are positively impacting their life on a day-to-day basis.”
Since the city will receive $498 million in federal money in the next two years through the American Rescue Plan Act, Mitchell also will help to ensure those funds are addressing the parts of the city hardest hit by the pandemic, partially through programs and partnerships with community organizations.
And to answer the burning question on everyone’s mind, Mitchell attended McCluer High School in North County.
“I’m St. Louis through and through. You’ll never see me wear any other hat,” he said. “You might see a St. Louis Stars or Kansas City Monarchs [hat], but that’s about it because I’m a big baseball fan.”
