By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) has appointed Dartanion Swift-Williams, 41, as his administration’s new chief data and performance officer on Aug. 20.
In this role, Swift-Williams will lead the Office of Performance and Innovation (OPI) and establish a modern, efficient data and performance management program.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Dartanion Swift-Williams
Swift-Williams spoke with the AFRO about his new position and the significance of using data within city services.
“Data informs you about what’s happening and what to do next,” said Swift-Williams. “Data can be used for operational purposes, strategic planning and process improvement. In the city of Baltimore, the government provides all kinds of services, including public safety, education, human services and economic development. Data influences them all.”
Data can help a city determine how to improve its operations, policies and programs with the accurate and insightful information it provides, according to the Urban Institute.
Urban Institute is a not-for-profit research entity that uses data to advance equity and economic and social mobility.
In this role, Swift-Williams and his office is making sure to evaluate where data and city services currently stand, and how to best use and potentially improve them.
To help improve 3-1-1 or city request services, Swift-Williams said his office will focus on making the service more transparent for users. A major way will be by evaluating the service request intake process, making it more user-friendly, and improving communication between staff, departments and residents concerning 3-1-1 inquiries.
When 3-1-1 tickets are made, they get referred to a particular department for service. Swift-Williams said he’ll look at which departments the requests are going to and how staff are updated about them.
“We want to make sure the transparency is there so residents know when their tickets are progressing through the process,” he said.
Swift-Williams previously led data and platform innovation at a biosecurity startup, supervised nonprofit and fundraising products at Meta and oversaw data science and engineering at a scientific nonprofit organization.
He also spent 13 years in local government. Swift-Williams led data operations for the Office of the City Administrator in Washington, D.C. While serving in the District, he improved city services and worked with the performance team on CapStat, a performance management tool, and agency performance plans.
“I had a lot of good mentors,” said Swift-William, about how being a Black man has impacted his journey in the data industry. “Mentors help you just navigate the politics of these types of roles. I’ve been lucky in that regard.”
Swift-Williams enjoys that he’s in a place where he can give back and be a mentor to others as well.
“We often come up in spaces where we just don’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what we want to do or having access to the resources to do it,” he said. “In this role, there’s an HBCU fellowships program and agencies can get one or two fellows. I said, ‘Let me go for the max.’”
Through the program, he said he wants to give young, up-and-coming Black people a chance.
“I’m bringing in young, promising Black people to learn from one of the best in the space,” he said. “By the time the fellowship is over, they will have a much clearer sense of what they want to do, and will have gotten some really solid training and experience to help elevate their career.”
Swift-Williams was also an adjunct professor within George Washington University’s data analytics and visualization program.
Sarah Schulte, data lead for the Baltimore City Bureau of the Budget and Management Research, attended his class in 2020 as the COVID-19 lockdown began.
“He just took it all in stride and converted what was supposed to be an in-person interaction, into a fully virtual one,” said Schulte. “He walked us through all the tools that he thought that we would need to succeed. By the end of the class we were running full staff applications using Python and different databases.
“He’s always been a fantastic mentor and teacher for me and I’m very happy for him in his new role,” continued Schulte.
Schulte shared what she thinks Baltimore residents should know about Swift-Williams and his ability to execute this new role.
“Once he can formalize his vision for something, he’s extremely good at executing it,” said Schulte. “He is extremely good at presenting materials that people might not be familiar with, and he really understands how data and operations are linked. He’s good at harnessing data that supports change and innovation.”
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