AG HEALEY LAUNCHES COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIVISION

AG HEALEY LAUNCHES COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIVISION

First-of-its-kind division focused on engaging with residents across the state to be led by former director of Office for Refugees and Immigrants

BOSTON — Building on her promise to run an inclusive and responsive office, Attorney General Maura Healey today launched her office’s Community Engagement Division. The first-of-its-kind division will bring the Attorney General’s Office and its work into neighborhoods and communities across the Commonwealth.

“This is the people’s law firm and it’s important to me that people across our state are connected with our Office and the work we do,” said AG Maura Healey. “My experience traveling around the state taught me that many residents do not understand the full scope and reach of the Attorney General’s Office. This new division will help ensure people are connected with the resources they need to help solve their problems.”   

To lead the division, the AG has tapped Marcony Almeida-Barros. Almeida-Barros most recently served as the Acting Executive Director for the Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) and previously worked as the office’s chief of staff. Prior to working for ORI, Almeida-Barros was the Director of Organizing and Deputy Executive Director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, where he worked on immigration reform at the federal level and directed the organization’s outreach, legislative and advocacy efforts.

“The new Community Engagement Division is committed to being an active presence in neighborhoods across the state and learning about the diverse issues facing our communities,” said Almeida-Barros. “We will be taking the office out of Boston and bringing it into cities and towns across the Commonwealth.”

The first efforts the Community Engagement Division will undertake include training on the new Earned Sick Time and Domestic Workers laws to better educate both employers and employees on their rights and responsibilities. The Division is also working with communities to schedule office hours, bringing the resources of the AG’s office directly to communities at times that are more convenient for working people and their families.

Healey has also hired Willie Bodrick II to serve as the division’s Outreach Coordinator. Bodrick comes to the Attorney General’s Office with extensive experience in community outreach and engagement. Bodrick is a youth and young adult pastor and a program director at the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. Bodrick is a graduate of Georgetown University and has a masters of divinity from Harvard Divinity School. He is also the founder, president and CEO of BOLD MOLD, Inc (Black Men Overtly Leveraging Development), a nonprofit organization that works to redirect the stereotypical and statistical trajectory of young black men through education and intergenerational mentoring.