Mayor committed to responsive, effective government for all residents

The City of Fort Wayne has created the new position of Hispanic/ Latino Liaison to improve customer access to City programs and resources among this growing segment of the community.

City employee Vanessa Myers has been repositioned to work with residents, local leaders and community groups helping to build connections and serving as a resource and an advocate for Fort Wayne'€™s Hispanic/Latino populations. A native of Puerto Rico, Myers is bilingual in English and Spanish.

In her new position, Myers will be a direct point of contact for this varied constituency. By integrating best practices from other cities with similar positions, she will take existing outreach efforts by the Fort Wayne Police and others departments to the next level. The liaison is part of the Mayor'€™s Public Information staff.

“Our Hispanic/Latino community is a growing and important part of Fort Wayne,” said Mayor Tom Henry. “This new position will allow the City of Fort Wayne to strengthen its relationships with Hispanic/Latino organizations and remove barriers to City services for individual residents. I am excited to see this initiative begin within the first 100 days of my administration. I am committed to making government more accessible and more effective for all our citizens.”

Some of the new position'€™s responsibilities include:
'€¢    Serving as an advocate throughout the Hispanic/Latino community to individuals, agencies and organizations on pertinent issues and concerns relating to City services;
'€¢    Providing information to the Hispanic/Latino community on City services and working to ensure the removal of barriers to City services;
'€¢    Communicating with Hispanic/Latino leaders to identify community issues and needs;
'€¢    Working with a network of Hispanic/Latino agencies that serve the Hispanic/Latino population;
'€¢    Working with staff on how to be more inclusive of minority groups when planning and developing programs;
'€¢    Providing information to concerned citizens via phone including the 311 call center, walk-in, mail, council members, other departments, etc. and assisting with resolving concerns by direct interaction between the citizens and the City;
'€¢    Serving as a source of information for the community regarding community-based programs and services by maintaining a strong referral database of community organizations including their leaders and personal contacts that citizens can link to directly;
'€¢    Maintaining an awareness of and developing appropriate relationships with other state and local agencies, national organizations and private businesses that will implement or improve policies, programs and procedures that focus on special problems and needs of the Hispanic/Latino communities and organizations;
'€¢    Working with various departments throughout the City to translate and/or interpret documents, via the telephone, and/or in person.

Myers can be reached at (260) 427-6132 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..