Friday, January 7, 2022

Leading FEMA's Equity Efforts. Jo Linda Johnson, Director of FEMA’s Office on Equal Rights (OER),

 

Leading FEMA's Equity Efforts

Director Jo Linda Johnson Equity is a cornerstone of FEMA’s work to ensure that everyone is prepared for disasters and has the support to recover from them. That’s the mission of Jo Linda Johnson, Director of FEMA’s Office on Equal Rights (OER), whether it’s working to shape a discrimination-free workplace for all FEMA employees, or equal access to FEMA services for all disaster survivors.

Johnson, who’s worked at FEMA since 2018, admits it’s a big job.

“Here at FEMA, I own responsibility for the civil rights of 22,000+ FEMA employees internally and 300 million members of the public who encounter FEMA-funded programs and services externally. During the pandemic, that was just about everyone in the country,” she said.

Johnson’s previous experience helped prepare her for leading the OER. She spent five years as Director of the Transportation Security Administration’s Civil Rights Division. Before that, she worked for 12 years with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Johnson has a law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

“Leadership matters, and trust matters. When leaders are upfront, transparent, and open to conversation and feedback, great things get done. Where there is low trust, poor communication, and poor accountability, hard problems are harder,” she said.

“FEMA has so many leaders—at all levels—who take extreme ownership of problems, pass no bucks, and get hard things done. The amount of responsibility FEMA is asked to shoulder—and the scope of problems FEMA is asked to solve—for the nation is enormous.” Read more... 



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