The Racial Equity Working Group is a group of Mount Desert Island residents who aim to deepen their understanding of power and privilege and to foster racial justice, equity and inclusion on MDI and beyond.

 Ian Yaffe became the next Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for the Department on January 30th , 2023. Ian served as the Director of the Office of Population Health Equity at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), since September 2021.

 As the largest Department in State government that serves one in three Maine residents, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is committed to removing barriers to services for various populations, improving equitable outcomes, and making working in and with DHHS a positive experience for people of all cultures, races, ethnicities, and identities.

 Ian’s work with DHHS builds on his eleven years of work as the executive director at Mano en Mano, a nonprofit that provides educational, health, housing, and advocacy supports to immigrant and farmworker communities as well as his service in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as a Senior Chief Boatswain Mate. Ian received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and his master’s degree from the University of Washington.