Buncombe County Appoints Rachel Edens as Chief Equity & Human Rights Officer
After an extensive national search, Rachel Edens has been chosen as Buncombe County's first Chief Equity & Human Rights Officer following the August 2020 Buncombe County Board of Commissioners declaration of racism as a public health and safety crisis. The events of 2020 demonstrated the need for a Racial Equity and Action plan for the County. With the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affecting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and the spread of video footage of deadly police brutality against BIPOC, Buncombe County decided to take strategic actions to promote equity in all areas. The County has been intentional about creating new policies and resources while strengthening existing services to address racism. Edens has been doing equity work for over a decade and has a unique background qualifying her for this role.
Her career started at Tusculum University in Greeneville, Tennessee as the Director for the Center for Civic Advancement where she coordinated community service and engagement efforts for students, faculty, and staff for five years. She then moved to Vermont where she served as the Assistant Dean for Black students and the inaugural Assistant Dean for First-Generation and/or Low-Income students at Dartmouth College. Edens is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Her particular research focuses on Black feminism and disability studies. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Community Engagement. No matter what title she holds, Edens says she is always a diversity and equity professional, championing a culture that embraces diversity and inclusion. A native of Eastern NC, she is happy to be here in Asheville doing the work she is passionate about.
As Chief Equity & Human Rights Officer, her primary role is to provide coordination, strategy and leadership for all of the equity initiatives happening in the County, and to ensure an equity lens is applied to the County’s policies, processes, and procedures. The guiding document for her work is the Racial Equity Action Plan (REAP) which was adopted by the Board of Commissioners earlier this year. Her job is to interface with various entities and individuals in the community and to determine what the challenges are, and what experiences have been inequitable. She will also be working behind the scenes looking at all the systems in the County to infuse equity in all departments and the organization as a whole. Though the REAP is specifically focused on racial equity, she notes that leading with racial equity inherently produces outcomes that will benefit all underserved communities. Edens also wants residents of Buncombe County to know that the County welcomes community input and engagement, such as the 20 year Comprehensive Plan, on which she is also working.
“One of things I would like to stress is that the County welcomes and invites community involvement and engagement every step of the way,” she says. “I want to encourage readers to get involved in our Boards and Commissions and to lend their voices to help shape County initiatives and priorities. We especially welcome the input of our most marginalized communities and individuals. This is the key to policy change; community voice is invaluable.”
Written by Emily Euchner