Margaret Jones Desjarlais

💡 Provides thought leadership, strategic planning, and engagement guidance to a community-led initiative that supports a diverse cross-section of Tuscaloosa’s residents and industries to alleviate social, racial, and economic inequities across six areas: Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization, Economic and Workforce Development, Education, Youth Sports and Recreation, Community Connection and Outreach, and Recruitment, Training, and Retention 💡 Advises city senior leadership and elected officials on historic, current, and emergent barriers to equity and proposes appropriate strategies based on community development and DEIB best practices 💡 Primary author, designer, and editor of the initiative’s inaugural report, Project Unity Recommendations, a comprehensive guide to the 60+ equity actions endorsed by the coalition. This document provides the framework for the City of Tuscaloosa’s equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility priorities and strategies 💡 Facilitated the creation, refinement, and adoption of subcommittee recommendations, including the endorsement to establish a Department of Youth Advancement and Opportunity. This recommendation laid the foundation for the creation of the Division of Youth Advancement and Opportunity, the City of Tuscaloosa’s first business unit dedicated to improving the quality of life children and youth 💡Contributed to the launch of the Project Unity website. I provided content and drafted the initial low fidelity wire-frame

💡 Creates and executes the strategic direction for the Community Development division of the Office of Community and Neighborhood Services which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for approximately 25,000 Tuscaloosa residents 💡 Manages and supports the annual operational and programmatic performance of a $1.3 million federal grants portfolio, and currently supervising the successful implementation of an additional $6.6 million in highly regulated federal funding through effective resource allocation, implementation management, and comprehensive technical support of sub-grantees 💡 Builds annual and five-year strategic plans to align the City’s short and long-term community programming with local, state, and federal priorities and objectives and crafts diverse policies and plans such as the City of Tuscaloosa's Citizen Participation Plan, which outlines community engagement standards for grants portfolio 💡 Collaborated and facilitated with Habitat for Humanity on strategic road mapping and value alignment for an affordable housing project, “Operation Transformation”, which will revitalize a low-income area through increasing housing stock by 40 homes while providing workforce development opportunities for local high school students 💡 Supervised and supported operational and programmatic re-design of the Hope Summer Jobs program, a hybrid workforce development program to improve economic and employment outcomes for 100 disadvantaged and underrepresented Tuscaloosa youth ages 16-21 annually 💡 Led three internal departments through the conceptualization, development, and implementation of “West Tuscaloosa Connect”, a digital accessibility project providing free Wi-Fi access to 9,000 Tuscaloosa residents in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the city