Commission leader says stronger legislative ties and shared services helped stabilize agency operations

Dr. DeCosta, who identified herself as part of the Commission for Community Advancement and Engagement, told the legislative subcommittee that she created a chief-of-staff role so the commission would "be in the room" with elected officials and better communicate how the agency’s work affects districts. She said that deliberate outreach over seven years helped the agency obtain needed budget and staffing support.

"His primary goal was to make sure that we were in the room having conversations with all of our elected officials," Dr. DeCosta said, describing the duties of her chief of staff, Brendan Brown. She added that those relationships "help us a lot and it will help you to know and understand what we do at the commission."

On agency operations, Dr. DeCosta described a partnership with the Department of Administration to provide shared services — procurement, human resources, budget and information-technology support — and said the arrangement has been instrumental in keeping the small agency compliant and functioning. "They have been a godsend for this agency," she said, and recommended shared services to other small agencies.

The presentation framed the relationship-building and shared services as complementary: legislative engagement secured funding and political support, while shared administrative capacity helped the commission manage growth and limits on in-house staff time. The subcommittee asked several procedural questions about board membership and confirmation timing while the commission completed staffing and membership vacancies.

The meeting concluded with the subcommittee acknowledging receipt of the commission’s materials and moving on to a separate presentation of poverty and district fact sheets by Dr. Fenton.