Divine Selengbe is Lewiston’s new diversity, equity and inclusion specialist. She is a graduate of Lewiston High School and Thomas College in Waterville. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — The city has hired Divine Selengbe as its new diversity, equity and inclusion specialist after losing its former DEI director Melissa Hue last year.

Selengbe, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has lived in Lewiston for the past 17 years. She’s a 2016 graduate of Lewiston High School, where she served on the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council. She graduated from Thomas College in Waterville in 2020.

According to Angelynne Amores, Lewiston’s director of marketing and communications, Selengbe was hired Oct. 19. Amores said plans to formally announce the hiring to the public were delayed by the Oct. 25 shooting and then the holidays.

Selengbe told Amores that she applied to the position because she wanted to work in the city she grew up in, and contribute to the positive changes she sees in the city.

“I believe I can add a new and positive light to DEI in the city through education, collaboration and listening,” she said, adding that she will first focus on educational initiatives.

“Divine’s optimistic disposition and proactive approach set her apart,” City Administrator Heather Hunter said about the hire. “Additionally, we are confident and appreciate that her locally grown expertise will significantly enhance her performance in this role.”

The city hired Hue as its first director of diversity, equity and inclusion in 2021, but Hue left the position in 2023.

The position was one of the main recommendations from former Mayor Mark Cayer’s ad hoc Equity and Diversity Committee in 2021, which urged further efforts to make Lewiston’s workforce better represent the diversity of its residents. When hired, Hue was also tasked with reviewing various policies for suggested amendments, facilitating training, and providing community outreach.

However, during the previous term, the City Council routinely questioned Hue’s role, indefinitely tabling a DEI policy that she drafted, and proposing to cut her position during budget talks. When first discussing her proposed DEI policy, Hue told officials that the city had been able to mitigate several potential lawsuits related to bias, harassment or discrimination, but said there were still instances of employees using racial slurs.

Hue had said the policy was meant as a proactive measure to establish a code of conduct and set expectations for how employees will be treated and how they treat others.

During his inaugural address this week, Mayor Carl Sheline said Lewiston’s “incredible diversity makes us stronger,” but there is still work to do to provide “access to the same opportunities.”

“Is the diversity in our community reflected in employment throughout our city departments? I am unhappy to say that it is not,” he said. “We need to redouble our efforts to recruit more people of color to work in our city.”

Asked about the recent hire Thursday, Sheline said he hopes that one of the goals of the new DEI specialist will be “to increase employment diversity at City Hall.”

He also added that “after what happened” with the previous council’s hostility toward the work, “I think it’s clear that this position and its mission needs to be supported by the council for there to be success.”

The DEI role has been embraced in recent years by the private sector, school districts and, increasingly, municipalities. In Lewiston, conversations over diversity and equity were given new attention following nationwide protests over the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. However, more recently DEI work has become a frequent political target.

Prior to being hired in Lewiston, Selengbe was a project administrator at WSP, an environmental engineering firm based in Portland.

According to Amores, Selengbe’s work with ProsperityME, a Portland-based nonprofit focusing on financial literacy for the immigrant community, fueled her appetite for community work.

While there, she worked as a housing specialist and small business coordinator. In both roles, based in Lewiston, Selengbe was often “in the community working directly with immigrants on helping to determine their funding and education needs of the community.”

Selengbe also serves on the board of Generational Noor, a Lewiston-based nonprofit that focuses on educating the immigrant community on mental health and substance abuse in the community.