EDITOR”S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that Oak Park’s first Juneteenth celebration was in 2019, not during Dr. Walker’s tenure.
Oak Park’s first ever chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer has resigned from the position.
DEI leader Danielle Walker resigned from the Village of Oak Park Monday, March 10. She was first hired to head up Oak Park’s DEI efforts in August 2022, becoming the first person to hold such a position at the village.
“During her time in Oak Park, Dr. Walker and the DEI team did significant work to elevate diversity, equity and inclusion within the community through many important programs,” the village told Wednesday Journal in a provided statement. “In particular, Dr. Walker’s leadership in expanding the village’s cultural event programming demonstrated her commitment to the values the community holds dear. We appreciate her many contributions and wish her great success with her future professional endeavors.”
The village did not make Village Manager Kevin Jackson available for an interview on the subject.
Walker’s projects in the role included leading cultural competency training sessions for the village board, sponsoring and promoting Oak Park’s Juneteenth celebration and helping the village create a racial equity assessment, although that report has not been released and the Engage Oak Park page associated with the project hasn’t been updated since December 2023.
Before coming to Oak Park, Walker had served as the DEI officer for the City and County of Denver — City Attorney’s Office. She was also the first person to hold that title. Prior to that, she had served as a policy advisor for the Colorado Department of Health Care, Policy and Finance, where her work focused on equity issues affecting disabled people.
She holds a PhD in philosophy with a concentration on critical social issues in education from the University of Colorado — Denver.
“It’s really important for me, building these relationships and these connections,” she told Wednesday Journal shortly after her start in Oak Park. “And so I really am grateful and honored to be in this inaugural role and to really grow with the community.”
Walker’s departure comes less than a month after Emily Egan, the village’s development services director, left after less than a year in Oak Park for a job with north suburban Wilmette.
During a Wednesday Journal sponsored candidate forum earlier this month, current Village Board President Vicki Scaman said the rate that high ranking village staff members leave Oak Park speaks to the Oak Park government’s well-respected place in the job market.
“We have staff who’ve been able to get up to $80,000 more in their new jobs,” she said during the forum. “The market that is out there for municipal employees is very competitive.”