Portland has hired its first director of racial equity, the city announced Wednesday.

Umaru W. Balde, who speaks numerous languages and has held civil rights posts in Iowa, will start in April.

Umaru W. Balde Photo courtesy of City of Portland

The hire follows a number of recommendations from the city’s Racial Equity Steering Committee last year, including establishing a department of racial equity and a permanent director of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in the city manager’s office. Committee members were charged with addressing systemic racism issues in Portland.

The Racial Equity Steering Committee, which began meeting in October 2020, was appointed by Mayor Kate Snyder and city councilors following a series of Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the city and nation over the previous summer – protests that were driven by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police.

Balde will promote equity and inclusion in city work and work to ensure compliance with civil rights laws. Balde will also help facilitate the council’s goal of looking at everything it does through a lens that prioritizes racial and social justice, the city said. Balde will report to and advise the city manager on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion within city government and throughout the broader community.

“We welcome Mr. Balde and look forward to the important contributions he will make to the City of Portland,” Snyder said.

He was hired following a national search that began in August 2022. Portland included funding for the position in its 2023 budget.

Balde will relocate to Maine from Iowa where he most recently served as director of the Multicultural Family Center in Dubuque. Prior to that, Balde was an investigator for the Civil Rights Commission in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

He attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, studying Hebrew language studies, and holds a master’s in comparative religions and a bachelor’s in English literature from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. He is fluent in English, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Hebrew as well as other languages, as well as various Arabic and African dialects.

His starting annual salary will be $113,168.