PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Cherelle Parker on Tuesday announced more than 20 appointments and reappointments to her administration — including the first-ever director of Latino engagement.
Parker said the most frustrating thing when she was a district City Council member was when people would say the city ought to have a program that it already has. “You’ve already funded it. It’s already in existence, but folks haven’t been connected to the service.”
The mayor says that’s why she’s adding an Office of Latino Engagement, under the direction of William Garcia.
“I’m deeply inspired by the opportunity to serve as a bridge between the Latino community and the city administration,” Garcia said.
Parker is keeping Commissioner Kim Ali at the Department of Human Services, which has been wrestling with an overcrowded Juvenile Justice Services Center and continuing high turnover, and the resulting high caseloads at its community umbrella agencies.
Parker says Ali is an innovative thinker: “She’s trying to figure out ways we can consistently improve.”
A frequent DHS critic, Councilmember Cindy Bass says she believes improvement is possible with Ali.
“The change in the administration may offer new potential for a lot of departments, so I expect to see a different DHS,” Bass said.
Parker reappointed Kelly Richards as head of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The new youth engagement director, Shania Bennet, worked on Parker’s mayoral campaign. She also announced several deputies in the Managing Director’s Office.
Even for new appointments, Parker did not look far. A half-dozen Labor Department deputies came from within the city government. The new executive director of the Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity is former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Orlando Rendon. A former Community Behavioral Health official, Donna Bailey, is now the agency’s CEO. And Val Gay, the new executive director of the Office of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, will be elevated to cabinet level — reporting directly to the mayor.
Parker still has not appointed leaders to the Department of Public Health or Department of Prisons.