City of Charlottesville names Joshua Barr chief prosperity officer

City of Charlottesville announces Joshua Barr as chief prosperity officer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The City of Charlottesville is pleased to announce that Joshua V. Barr, JD, MBA, started as the new Chief Prosperity Officer this week.

Barr will lead efforts to align programs, services, and practices to remove systemic barriers to access and opportunity for community members. In doing so, he will work closely with the City Manager to advance priorities within “The Laboratory,” a space where the City can dream, imagine, try, test, assess, evaluate, discard, change, and pivot in pursuit of better outcomes for the community.

“Joshua brings the kind of experience and perspective we need as we continue looking for new ways to solve longstanding challenges in Charlottesville,” said City Manager Sam Sanders. “This role is about being willing to look at how we do things, ask hard questions, and try new approaches that create better outcomes for people. Joshua has a track record of taking big conversations and turning them into real action, and that is exactly what I want this work to be about. I’m excited to have him on the team and see where we can take this together.”

Barr brings more than 12 years of experience in civil and human rights, local government, policy transformation, civic engagement, conflict resolution, and socioeconomic justice. He most recently served as president and chief strategist of Raising The Barr, LLC, where he provided training, workshops, strategic consulting, and community engagement services to government agencies, universities, nonprofits, and corporations across the country.

Previously, Barr served as executive director of the Des Moines Civil & Human Rights Department, where he led the city’s initial social and racial equity work and helped develop a 30-year social equity plan. He created and led the Bridging the Gap initiative, a citywide dialogue process that resulted in more than 20 new policies and practices addressing housing affordability, economic stability, workforce equity, and cultural competency. During his time directing the Civil & Human Rights Department he also won a regional Emmy as the executive director and creator of a documentary entitled “Breaking Bread, Building Bridges,” where he matched 40 strangers based on their differences to see if they could find common ground and mutual understanding over the course of five dinners.

As a consultant, Barr has continued working with local governments and community organizations to strengthen civic dialogue, develop equity-centered policies, and align institutions around strategies that expand opportunity and improve community well-being. He also developed the Citizen Participation & Equitable Engagement Toolkit for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program.

Barr is a former attorney and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and a Master of Business Administration from Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business. He is also a Certified Practitioner of Human Centered Design and holds certifications in diversity, inclusion, cultural competency, collaborative discussion, and local government management.

In Charlottesville, Barr will collaborate with the Office of Police Civilian Oversight, Human Rights, ADA, and Home to Hope, while directly engaging with a range of initiatives centered on health and wellness, access and opportunity, and culture and history. His position emphasizes transparent decision-making, accountability, collaboration, and measurable outcomes.

“I’m excited to join Charlottesville and get to know the community,” said Barr. “I’m looking forward to listening, learning, and working alongside residents and City staff to tackle the issues that affect people’s ability to move up the socioeconomic ladder and experience a greater quality of life. I’m particularly interested in understanding Charlottesville’s history and connecting that history to the opportunities and challenges we face today.”

Outside of his professional work, Barr enjoys reading, hiking and spending time outdoors, as well as meditation, visiting museums, old Japanese films, anime and traveling, particularly throughout South America. He has an interest in history and looks forward to exploring Charlottesville’s past and present and getting to know the community.