After more than 11 years as a city of Milwaukee employee, Nikki Purvis has recently moved into the role as chief equity officer for the city’s Department of Administration – Office of Equity and Inclusion.
In her previous role as the city’s small business development director, she oversaw the former Office of Small Business Development, which served as a gateway for small business enterprises interested in engaging in the city’s procurement process.
As chief equity officer, she will continue her work engaging small business owners and will work to identify ways to ensure that all Milwaukee residents have access to needed resources.
Under Purvis, the Office of Equity and Inclusion will lead efforts to see that each city department can work more effectively and collaboratively to advance racial equity and inclusion, identify and change policies and practices that may be contributing to racial disparities and inequity and develop a shared racial equity framework with data-driven tools and measures to evaluate progress in these areas.
“Purvis has an important and critical role with the city of Milwaukee,” said Ossie Kendrix, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin. “In many ways, (she’s working toward) changing the narrative associated with the city of Milwaukee so it becomes recognized as a thriving place for families to raise Black children.”
