Fairfax County’s retired chief equity officer sees ‘a lot more work to do’

Fairfax County’s recently retired chief equity officer is asking local leaders to be vigilant in their efforts to promote a more just community.

“Fairfax is an amazing place — yet we know that is not the experience of everyone,” Karla Bruce said after being honored by the Board of Supervisors this morning (Oct. 8).

“There were, and are, people left out,” Bruce said. “There’s a lot more work to do. We just have to continue to try and do better.”

Bruce spent 25 years working in the county government across multiple departments. Her prime legacy likely will be serving as a key staff support for development and implementation of the government’s One Fairfax policy, which promotes an equity lens in the decision-making process .

“This is ingrained now in how we do our work. It’s not just words on a piece of paper,” said Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay, who with his former board colleague Catherine Hudgins helped develop the One Fairfax framework, said saying farewell to Bruce was an emotional moment.

“This is personal for me — Karla and I have really been on a journey,” he said, adding that Bruce told the board to “think big.”

Adopted by the Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board in November 2017, the One Fairfax policy was spurred in part by an equitable growth study that found Fairfax County would’ve produced $26.2 billion more in gross domestic product in 2012 if racial gaps in income were closed.

According to the 2020 Census, Fairfax County is officially a “majority-minority” community , with its white population declining and Hispanic and Asian residents in particular driving population growth . However, income inequality overall and gaps in wages between white workers and their Black and Latino counterparts had increased from 2000 through 2012, the equitable growth study found.

Appointed as the county’s first chief equity officer in 2018, Bruce helped the county government reevaluate its approach to issues like affordable housing and oversaw efforts to address disparities in the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She received a leadership award from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in 2021 for her work implementing the One Fairfax framework, which included managing an equity task force convened in 2020 by McKay.

“You’ve made a better county,” McKay told Bruce. “You have made a difference in the lives of many people who may never meet you.”

“It’s been a ride,” Bruce said of her county government career.

Helping to develop equity programs and policies was not unlike the experience of being a parent, according to Bruce.

“I had the experience to mold and shape something so important, while being molded and shaped [myself],” she said.

Bruce was succeeded as chief equity officer on Sept. 30 by Toni Zollicoffer , whose duties include coordinating a One Fairfax Community Roundtable that was established in April.