New Chief of Staff – DC Office of Planning

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 4, 2021

CONTACT:

Mekdy Alemayehu (OP) 202.412.7828; mekdy.alemayehu2@dc.gov

New Chief of Staff Brings Equity and Inclusion Expertise to the DC Office of Planning

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The DC Office of Planning (OP) welcomes Vivian Guerra as the agency’s new Chief of Staff. Guerra brings fifteen years of professional experience in community development working at the local and federal levels as well as in the private sector. Guerra joins OP as the agency renews its focus on community-based planning and the DC Council is poised to finalize the Comprehensive Plan update. She will shepherd the final steps and implementation of the Comp Plan update, as well as support OP’s neighborhood planning and systems work with an equity and inclusion lens. Guerra’s skills and experience will be critical as OP continues to plan for a more equitable and resilient DC that will stand up against the challenges we face today and beyond.

Guerra joins OP from the DC Department of Transportation, where she led several initiatives on Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility for the Equity & Inclusion Division/Civil Rights Office within the Office of the Director. Before that, she led and implemented organizational systems-change through policies, practices and procedures at the DC Department on Disability Services’ State Office of Policy, Planning, and Innovation. She served as the Ward 1 neighborhood planner at OP where she managed neighborhood plans that included the Columbia Heights Public Realm Plan, Georgia Avenue-Petworth Revitalization Plan, and supported the U Street Corridor DUKE plan.

Guerra holds a Master’s in Community and Urban Planning from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Studies from George Mason University. She resides in Washington, DC alongside her husband, two children, and recently adopted puppy Gio.

For more information about the DC Office of Planning, visit our home page at planning.dc.gov.