Kevin Lovaincy’s first two months as Worcester’s new Chief Equity Officer have been eventful.
Lovaincy, 31, was hired in October to oversee Worcester’s Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (EODEI). He told MassLive that his first months have focused on building relationships with city departments, advisory commissions and community organizations including Black Families Together, the Southeast Asian Coalition, Pride Worcester and The Village.
Now, just two months into his tenure, Lovaincy’s office has now been tasked, by City Manager Eric D. Batista, with overseeing a new hotline which the public may use to report police misconduct. This comes following the release of the Department of Justice’s explosive report on the Worcester Police Department alleging that some officers were involved in the use of excessive force, discriminatory enforcement tactics and illegal sex acts with vulnerable women.
In addition to overseeing a hotline, Lovaincy’s office will lead training sessions, seminars and workshops on behavioral health, implicit bias and additional topics, all of which will align with and inform written policy within the police department.
Lovaincy declined to comment about the WPD report.
Lovaincy is approaching his role with the goals of building up his office and meeting with other leaders throughout the city.
“I don’t think people realize that anytime you’re communicating with someone and providing them assistance, that is a form of DEI,” Lovaincy told MassLive. “We should never be at a point where you’re just satisfied. When you have a diverse city, you want to ensure you have resources specifically that are tailored for those diverse communities and how to assist them to make sure that they can thrive.”
A legacy of advocacy
Lovaincy is the son of Solange Innocent Eloir, who immigrated from the Haiti to the United States in 1993, he said. Eloir was an advocate for her community. Lovaincy said she would advocate for those who spoke English as a second language and argue over a restaurant bill that was a few dollars short.
“In my head I’m like, it’s a few dollars. Let’s just move forward,” Lovaincy said. “But it was the principle for advocating for what’s right — advocating for people.”
His mother’s advocacy for those without a platform, a voice or a place at the table ignited something in him to learn about and eventually work to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. This passion drove him to Tufts University where he recently earned a Master of Arts degree in Diversity and Inclusion Leadership.
“That kind of gave me the vocabulary but also the framework on how to best impact organizations through a DEI model,” Lovaincy said.
Having completed his degree, Lovaincy worked in the DEI field for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as their Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Public Health Hospitals and as the Acting Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the MDPH. Lovaincy told MassLive he also served as the American Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator at the MDPH assisting employees who needed accommodations.
“I would assist them on getting that, working with their managers to ensure that these accommodations work,” Lovaincy said.
In addition to working at the MDPH, Lovaincy has worked as the Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Quinsigamond Community College (QCC).
“That scope of work both at QCC and also at DPH has allowed me to bring some of that knowledge into the city and have a bigger impact,” Lovaincy said.
‘Structural support’
As someone who has invested his time and energy towards promoting more equity in institutions, Lovaincy said DEI is in a fragile state throughout the country right now, with chief equity and diversity officers attempting to carry out work with whatever support they can acquire.
“A lot of officers typically don’t have the structural support,” Lovaincy said. “They have one staff assistant and the expectation is that they have to do this cultural shift on their own.”
Lovaincy, however, told MassLive that he is fortunate to have a department with three divisions and a staff of nine to help him achieve the city’s DEI goals and states that City Manager Eric Batista has extremely supportive is taking the stance to support DEI regardless of what happens nationwide.
In the five years prior to Lovaincy’s appointment, Worcester had three Chief Diversity Officers. The first was Malika Carter who was hired in January, 2016, but she left in July of 2017. In March, 2018, the city hired Suja Chacko to succeed Carter. She, too, left the role in less than two years. In 2020, Stephanie Williams became the city’s third Chief Diversity Officer, and she left the role in March of 2022.
In her departure letter, Williams wrote that her role did not have the structure to change institutions in Worcester to help those in Black, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and LGTBQ+ communities.
“It’s tied to a much greater purpose not because this is a political cause but because this is a human right,” Williams wrote. “Yet diversity, equity, inclusion focused positions have proven exhausting, particularly when organizations are not ready.”
Williams’ departure drew scrutiny from community leaders as the third departure in five years. Following her departure, a search began for a new Chief Diversity Officer.
In February 2023, Batista restructured the position of Chief Diversity Officer by creating an Executive Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to be lead by the Chief Equity Officer with a dedicated staff to implement more equitable practices in Worcester.
When Lovaincy’s appointment was announced in October of this year, city and community leaders praised the new hire but told MassLive they would like to see sustainability and support for the role and the office.
As the current chief equity officer, Lovaincy said he can’t speak to past experiences but said that in his experience he thinks Batista has done a good job improving the resources for the office.
He notes that the creation of the EODEI, with its three divisions, was something that had never been done before and that the change in title from chief diversity officer to chief equity officer is important.
“Sometimes diversity alone doesn’t do anything,” Lovaincy said. “You want to have all three together in DEI but the emphasis on equity ensures that when folks hear that title or hear that name, there’s an emphasis that we are trying to make everything equitable with any community that we work with.”
Lovaincy said that a goal of his is to build a strong foundation for the office.
“What we can do is flip the page forward and not repeat the past and see what we need to do moving forward,” Lovaincy said. “So those that are worried, I ask that you find ways not only to contribute, but to get involved.”
Even with his current job as chief equity officer, Lovaincy is still determined to be what he calls a better change agent. Lovaincy is pursuing a doctorate in philosophy in social justice education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“At night, I’m studying my doctorate, which for me, informs the work that I do for the city,” Lovaincy said.
