Darlene Flynn
City of Oakland
Darlene Flynn began her career in public service with the City of Seattle, doing policy development and constituent services for then Councilmember and Land Use Chair, James Street. Following opportunities to work for Seattle Public Utilities and Department of Neighborhoods, she joined the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. There she was an early program architect, and was the Policy and Capacity Building Lead from the inception of their ground breaking Race & Social Justice Initiative. In this position, she provided strategic planning, policy design, implementation and training support to the initiative focused on ending institutional racism in City government. Darlene also served four years, 2003 – 2007 on the Seattle School Board and on its Executive committee, first as the At-large member and then as Vice President. In 2016 Darlene accepted the position of Director of the new Department of Race and Equity in Oakland California, where she is currently applying her years of experience public policy and equity expertise to lead and support Oakland’s efforts to create a more just and equitable city.