Center for Policing Equity Announces New Staffing to Align With Organization's Community Focus

LOS ANGELES, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) is proud to announce three significant new leadership positions, each of which will further enhance CPE's work toward centering vulnerable communities.

Eric Cumberbatch is joining CPE as Senior Vice President, Policy & Community Engagement, a new position designed to facilitate collaboration with community groups, local organizations, and grassroots activists to better ensure that their voices are driving policy and are at the forefront of efforts to redesign public safety.

Max Markham has been hired as Vice President, Policy & Community Engagement where he will be responsible for leading and integrating the engagement practices that support our communities around the country, building partnerships, leading campaigns, and developing resources that support CPE's product rollouts and encourage communities to be architects of their own solutions. His work will be cross functional across policy, government affairs, coalition building, and national campaigns.

Hilary Rau, who joined CPE in 2017 and most recently served as the organization's Senior Director of Policy, has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Policy & Community Engagement. She will lead the research, development, and rollout of evidence-informed policy resources, oversee policy reviews for local partners, and advocate for systems change with federal, state, and local policymakers.

"The communities that live with inequitable systems are the experts on the impact those systems have," said Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, CPE's CEO and co-founder.

"We're excited to have Eric and Max join CPE as we continue our work to center Black and Brown communities. Combining their expertise with Hilary's is an exciting opportunity to create new blueprints for ensuring that our most vulnerable communities are safe, healthy, and equitably served."

Cumberbatch previously served as the Deputy Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety, an office that focused on community-centered public safety initiatives across government, communities, and justice partners that are outside the scope of policing and incarceration. Prior to that role, he served as the Executive Director of Community Engagement within the New York Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, with oversight of the city's Crisis Management System. He has also held positions at the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Housing Authority.

"I'm thrilled to join the Center for Policing Equity as the organization increases its focus on community engagement, empowerment, and development," Cumberbatch said. "From my past experience, I know that those closest to the problem are usually closest to the solution, and systemic change is impossible without centering the lived experiences of Black and Brown families and the communities in which they live. I'm looking forward to working with my new colleagues and working closely with those most affected by policing inequities to build paths to genuinely equitable public safety systems."

Markham previously served as Policy & Legal Director at March For Our Lives, a youth-led national nonprofit dedicated to ending gun violence.  Markham has built a career working across local government and nonprofit organizations, advocating for legislative changes impacting historically marginalized populations, and has managed policy portfolios at various levels of government including criminal justice and public safety, infrastructure, cultural affairs, education, and healthcare.

Rau joined CPE in 2017 and led the formation and development of CPE's policy team. She is an attorney and policy advocate who has spent her career advocating for racial, disability, and gender justice.  Prior to joining CPE, she served as a staff attorney at a university-based research and action group focused on gender justice advocacy. Prior to that, she worked as a civil rights attorney in private practice, representing victims of police excessive force and employment discrimination.

Contact: 
Michael Paul Jackson
[email protected]

SOURCE The Center for Policing Equity