Why Montco is doubling down on expanding its DEI office while Trump pushes against diversity policies

As President Donald Trump’s administration revokes federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Montgomery County officials have moved in the opposite direction with a drastic planned expansion of the county’s DEI office.

The Montgomery County Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been run by just one employee since 2021, but last month, the county’s board of commissioners voted along party lines to hire four new staff members under the county’s DEI chief.

County officials have called the expansion a “transformative investment” that will reinforce the Democratic-led county’s commitment to inclusion. But it creates a striking distinction between the suburban county and institutions across the country that have pulled back on DEI efforts in fear of losing federal funding.

Here’s what you need to know.

Montgomery County established its office of diversity, equity, and inclusion four years ago. According to the county website, the DEI chief, currently Donna Richemond, was assigned to work with county departments to ensure a diverse workforce, maintain a culture that valued inclusion and equity, facilitate training, and integrate DEI into county operations.

Democratic Commissioners Jamila Winder and Neil Makhija have touted the expansion in board meetings and news releases as a key way to better support the work the county is already doing on this front, but neither commissioner agreed to an interview on the topic. County officials also declined to make the Richemond available for an interview.

Winder thanked Richemond for her work in a release last month touting the new hires.

“This added capacity will allow us to deepen our impact and expand programs that make Montgomery County a better place to live, work, and raise a family,” Winder said.

Republican Commissioner Tom DiBello voted against the positions, which were considered alongside several other new county positions. DiBello cited broad concern that the county was overspending.

The new employees include two chief deputy officers, one managing training and another managing data; an administrative assistant for the office; and the county’s first director of immigrant affairs.

Last week, the board of commissioners announced it had hired Nelly Jiménez-Arévalo as the immigrant affairs director. Jiménez-Arévalo has led a Norristown-based nonprofit serving the Latino community for nearly a decade. In her new position, she is expected to help coordinate county services for immigrant residents regardless of legal status.

County officials said last month the new positions would allow Montgomery County to increase its use of data to measure DEI outcomes, improve internal training, and help improve inclusivity and accessibility of county services.

The county could spend up to $509,000 annually on salaries for the four positions, according to county records.

It will begin recruiting for the administrative assistant and deputy officers this week, a spokesperson for the county said in an email.

In recent years, DEI has become a focus of GOP ire, even as the work itself and its impacts are often misunderstood. DEI efforts are often designed around correcting for institutional bias and establishing policies that are broadly inclusive, but Republicans have panned the work as discriminatory toward white people and straight men.

Upon taking office, Trump immediately rolled back DEI initiatives on the federal level and halted funding for programs that prioritize DEI. Several corporations across the U.S. took similar measures, with companies like Walmart, Meta, and Amazon rolling back their programs.

Josh Blakesley, the executive director of the Hatboro-based Welcome Project PA, which provides DEI training, said that by expanding the office, Montgomery County sent a clear message that DEI work is important regardless of political controversy.

“I think it shows courage. It’s also people doing their job,” he said.

During a county board of commissioners meeting last week, Winder and Makhija defended the expansion. They argued DEI work results in more qualified candidates for county jobs by ensuring everyone has access to the same opportunities and allowing the county to recruit from a wider candidate pool.

“I hope we think about the fact that we’re simply opening up government to more people, more residents,” Makhija said

Winder listed a wide range of populations that benefit from DEI, including women, people with disabilities, older adults, veterans, and people of color.

“The truth is that when we remove barriers and create a level playing field, everyone in our community benefits,” she said.

Christian Nascimento, the chair of the Montgomery County GOP, panned the initiative as a waste of money.

While diversity is important in the county’s workforce, Nascimento argued the office was simply a response to Trump.

“I think it’s a pretty transparent response to be kind of anti-Trump and anti-federal government actions,” he said.

But several community members at last week’s county’s board meeting, most of them white men, publicly thanked the commissioners for the investment in DEI.

“When people say they’re against DEI, they’re not demanding a meritocracy,” one resident said. “What they’re demanding is a resegregation of America.”