Deputy Director of Government and Community Relations

Julia Irving is a social service, community engagement, and advocacy leader with over 25 years of experience and currently serves as Deputy Director of Government and Community Relations at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE). In this role, she developed a workforce program to increase unsubsidized employment and broaden exposure to nontraditional career paths for the justice-familiar population. Julia deployed an intense strategic engagement initiative to increase awareness of the office and its services.

Previously, Julia served as the Director of the Mayor's Office of Community Relations and Services (MOCRS) in her hometown of Washington, DC. There, she transformed that office's data collection and engagement strategies to ensure every sector of the city had access to available opportunities. Before joining the Bowser Administration, Julia served as the Community Outreach Specialist with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sixth District where she fostered relationships between officers and neighbors. Those skills were first developed while serving with the East River Clergy Police Community Partnership (ERCPCP), where she served as an Executive Assistant, Special Projects Manager, and Director of the Damascus Road Prisoner Reentry Program. As a Director at ERCPCP, Julia propelled the program from a ranking of 16th to 3rd in performance within the Ready2Work Department of Labor/Public Private Ventures Re-Entry Workforce pilot.

Julia’s passion for service began at a young age, assisting her stepfather with outreach for Brookland Union Baptist Church, and was further developed by the late Robert Hoderny through Archbishop Carroll’s service projects at Zacchaeus Soup Kitchen.