Mayor Levar M. Stoney today announced the appointment of three highly skilled professionals to fill three executive positions currently being held by interim appointees.

Sharon Ebert has been selected to serve as the new Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the Economic and Community Development Portfolio. Douglas Dunlap has been named as the Director of Housing and Community Development. Valaryee Mitchell, interim Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building, has been appointed to lead the office on a permanent basis.

“Our city is blessed to have top-tier talent assuming these key leadership roles,” said Mayor Stoney. “Sharon, Doug and Valaryee have the expertise and dedication to lead these departments and I look forward to all we will accomplish together working for the residents of the City of Richmond.”

Sharon Ebert has more than 25 years of experience working in state and local government. Her work experience has resulted in over a billion dollars in investments in areas of economic and retail development, tax credit financing, historic preservation, mixed-income and mixed-use redevelopment.

Ebert previously held positions in New York City, Yonkers, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and Bridgeport, CT. As the Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Development in Yonkers, NY, She was responsible for all economic, community and real estate development activities undertaken by the city, as well as all planning activities including master and urban renewal plans, neighborhood and downtown revitalization and affordable housing.

Most recently, Ebert served as Director of Community Development in the City of Johns Creek, GA where she oversaw planning, zoning, land development, building, permitting, and code enforcement activities. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and previously held the credential of a registered and licensed architect while working in New York.

Douglas Dunlap has been employed with the city for 19 years, during which time he has served in several capacities across multiple departments. Previously serving as Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Development Review and most recently Interim Deputy Chief Administrative Officer.

Dunlap has more than 25 years of experience in public administration in areas of planning, housing and community development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Hampton University as well as a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Prior to joining the city, Dunlap was employed with the Better Housing Coalition where he managed its homeownership program overseeing Cary 2000 and Jefferson Mews homeownership phases.

Valaryee Mitchell has more than 18 years of progressive experience with workforce programs including those serving youth, adults, people living in poverty, dislocated workers, re-entry and business.

In her previous role as Workforce Administrator she provided leadership and oversight for the City of Richmond’s workforce development initiatives including the Career Stations, BLISS Program, Business Services, and Mayor’s Youth Academy. Valaryee received her bachelor’s degree from Hampton University in Political Science and her Master of Public Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Prior to coming to the Office of Community Wealth Building Mitchell was the Statewide One-Stop Coordinator for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). During her tenure with the VCCS she established a One-Stop Certification process that reviewed continuous quality improvement in 18 American Job Centers across Virginia.
 

The school board faced a number of tough decisions in crafting this budget, and I appreciate it choosing to pass a plan that prioritizes students and teachers. I am committed to identifying the resources needed to provide our students with the learning opportunities they deserve. Fully funding Richmond Public Schools would be easier if the Commonwealth of Virginia would step up and fulfill its constitutional obligation to adequately support K-12 education. Virginia’s current approach to funding public education is not only inadequate and inequitable, it is unjust and immoral. The Commonwealth needs to do more for Virginia’s children, especially those growing up in poverty. The RPS adopted budget demands a lot from the City of Richmond. We have our own tough decisions ahead, but our kids deserve nothing less than our bold leadership.

Mayor Levar M. Stoney is being tapped by the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) to develop a “proactive, strategic agenda” as the new chairman of the USCM’s Children, Health and Human Services Standing Committee.

“Mayor Stoney has demonstrated leadership, commitment and a collaborative approach to meeting the needs of children and families in the City of Richmond,” said USCM president Steve Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina. “We’re grateful for his willingness to chair this important committee, and are excited for him to share Richmond’s recipe for success with USCM cities and localities across the country.”

Over the last two years, the Stoney administration has brought national attention to Richmond with numerous successful initiatives to benefit children and families.

Working with private, community and nonprofit partners, the administration implemented a critically important expansion of after-school programs for city school children and formed a partnership to provide tablets and internet access to incoming public high school freshmen. The administration also created a free ride program on the city bus system for students, and launched the successful “Change for RVA Schools” initiative, which generated $150 million to finance the construction of three new schools.
 
Focusing on the welfare of residents and working families, the Stoney administration is well on its way toward meeting the promise of building 1,500 affordable housing units by 2023, and just weeks ago announced the first eviction diversion program in the Commonwealth of Virginia, designed to help vulnerable residents avoid the devastating impact of losing their home.

This year, the administration also achieved the highest Municipal Equality Index (MEI) score in Virginia, a program sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign that measures the support for LGBTQIA+ communities within American localities. 

Richmond’s nationally recognized Office of Community Wealth Building has expanded its Center for Workforce Innovation to improve the city’s workforce development programs. And in 2017, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded Richmond its Culture of Health Prize, in recognition of the city’s initiatives to build a culture of health throughout the city.

“I thank Mayor Benjamin for this opportunity,” said Mayor Stoney. “We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in Richmond, and I’m looking forward to working with my fellow mayors to advance our successful initiatives nationwide.”

More information about the US Conference of Mayors can be found here.

Last night, Mayor Stoney convened the first Education Compact Quarterly Meeting of 2019. 
Please click to find relevant material: Education Compact Presentation, Multi-Year School Capital Funding Plan and the Dreams4RPS: 5-Year Cost Estimate of Strategic Plan 

All members of City Council and School Board are expected to attend these quarterly meetings. 

In addition to Mayor Stoney and Superintendent Kamras, the following were in attendance: 

City Council 

    •    Chris Hilbert (3rd District)
    •    Kristen Larsen (4th District)
    •    Ellen Robertson (6th District)
    •    Cynthia Newbille (7th District)

School Board
    •    Liz Doerr (1st District)
    •    Scott Barlow (2nd District)
    •    Jonathan Young (4th District)
    •    Cheryl Burke (7th District)
    •    Dawn Page (8th District)
    •    Linda Owen (9th District)

The following were absent:

City Council

    •    Andreas Addison (1st District)
    •    Kim Gray (2nd District)
    •    Parker Agelasto (5th District)
    •    Reva Trammell (8th District)
    •    Mike Jones (9th District)
School Board

    •    Kenya Gibson (3rd District)
    •    Patrick Sapini (5th District)
    •    Felicia Cosby (6th District)

Please visit the Education Compact website for videos, future meetings and more information.

A new tool is now helping the Richmond Department of Emergency Communications to get fast, accurate location information from mobile devices for emergencies.

Getting the accurate location for an emergency is the top priority for 911 call-takers, and the first step to dispatching first responders. The new tool, RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse, is an online platform to help pinpoint the location when the caller is unsure or unable to provide the location or when information provided by the cell phone company based on tower location is not specific enough.

This was the case on Jan. 13, when a Richmond 911 call-taker answered a call for domestic violence but was not able to get a location from the caller immediately. The 911 supervisor was able to find the location through the RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse.

“In this case, the first responders were there more quickly, because of our use of RapidSOS, rather than waiting for the caller to give the address,” said Stephen Willoughby, director of the Richmond Department of Emergency Communications. “Rather than using radio signals from the telephone and triangulating the towers to get a general idea of the location, RapidSOS asks the cell phone where it is.”

Jackie Crotts, the Richmond Department of Emergency Communications deputy director of technology, said that it is simple to use. “Essentially when the enabled device (iPhone iOS 12 or Android version 4.0 and up) calls 911, the location is sent to the RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse. Our 911 emergency communications supervisors make a request for the location, using one of our automated systems,” he said.

Crotts said that the location information is only available for active calls and only for those calls coming from the 911 emergency communications centers’ area.

“It helps us better locate callers, but nothing bypasses having a smart person behind the headset to get the best location and response,” Willoughby said.

RapidSOS is a free service available to authorized 911 emergency communications centers.

“The Richmond Department of Emergency Communications is leading the way in 911 technology to improve emergency response,” said RapidSOS CEO Michael Martin. “We are thrilled to provide Richmond call-takers and dispatchers with the information they need to get citizens help quickly in an emergency, saving lives and property.”

For more information about the service, visit https://rapidsos.com/ng911clearinghouse/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFoRYuW5hps