County Diversity Officer Feels ‘Confident’ in New Role
Growing up in a small town north of Dayton, Ohio, Marisa Hattab has long dealt with the issues she is charged with addressing as Douglas County’s diversity, equity and inclusion officer.
“DEI work has been foundationally a part of my lived experience,” Hattab said in an interview with The Daily Record. “I’m from a small town called Troy, Ohio, and that community was a predominantly white community where oftentimes I was the only minority. Living in a space like that, I found myself sometimes struggling to feel accepted or to feel valued or seen or that my lived experience mattered.”
Those same feelings followed Hattab to Wright State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree. Despite being part of a more diverse college community, Hattab said she had only one professor in the education department who was a person of color — and only in her senior year.
“I found myself creating a committee there that was made up of professors, faculty and students that was based around DEI topics, like training teachers how to be properly prepared to teach diverse populations of students,” she said.
Her new position will allow Hattab to do much the same for Douglas County.
“The easiest way I can put it is, my job is to help make the workplace better here,” Hattab said.
When the Douglas County Board of Commissioners announced the creation of the new DEI position, the primary duties listed in the job description were “championing, overseeing and advising on the development and implementation of the Douglas County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy and objectives.”
The county DEI officer “works to eliminate systemic organizational marginalization and promotes inclusion evidenced through county structures, customs and leaderships.”
“My job is to ensure that the workplace here at Douglas County is a space where all employees feel heard, valued, appreciated, supported and to know that they matter,” Hattab said.
She will report directly to Douglas County Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Bloomingdale.
Hattab plans to take a few months to learn how the county operates before implementing any new initiatives or training. But once she does, there are a few areas she hopes to focus her efforts: career development, policies and procedures, supervision and leadership style, workplace culture, and hiring and recruiting practices.
“When it comes to DEI, really caring about the work, I feel really confident about being able to support the work that’s already been started,” Hattab said.
Hattab came to Nebraska six years ago when her husband was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. She first worked as an educator at Omaha Street School before she took a job with Mentor Nebraska, where her most recent role was associate director of partnership, development and training.
While at Mentor Nebraska, Hattab created DEI training and curriculum, and helped prepare a racial equity plan, which she then was able to share with Mentor affiliates around the country.
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