Arlington County is losing its top communications official.
Bryna Helfer, Assistant County Manager and Director of Communications and Public Engagement, will be departing from the county’s leadership ranks at the end of this month.
At a meeting Tuesday, Arlington County Board members and County Manager Mark Schwartz praised Helfer’s outreach efforts since she joined the county in 2016.
Schwartz spotlighted her involvement in developing a six-step public engagement guide for capital projects.
“Quite simply, this framework revolutionized our communication and engagement,” the county manager said. “By applying this guide to hundreds of capital projects, both large and small, as well as to planning, policy making and programs, Bryna fundamentally transformed the way we interact with our community.”
Helfer also played a key role in developing Arlington’s Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census and the Complete Vaccination Committee during the pandemic. Both initiatives, Schwartz said, “remain models of effective, diverse and inspiring citizen-led groups that were wildly successful.”
While some have accused Arlington’s civic engagement process of privileging people with ample time, resources and connections, Schwartz said Helfer emphasized outreach to underrepresented demographics such as renters and lower-income people.
“She has been a tireless advocate for those in the community who are not easily heard,” he said.
Helfer will be joining the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor. The county is currently seeking her successor, county spokesman Ryan Hudson told ARLnow.
Erika Moore, communications director for the Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, will fill her role in the interim.
“I am honored to be able to help continue Arlington’s communications and engagement work as the County Manager conducts his recruitment process for the permanent position,” Moore said in a statement.
Helfer hopes the county will carry on her efforts to engage with residents who are not already heavily invested in local government.
“The word that comes to mind most, I think, is ‘intentionality,’” she told officials. “Intentionality about being proactive in our communication early and often, intentionality about reaching stakeholders that don’t know why they should care, intentionality about… moving to action.”
County Board members reflected fondly on Helfer’s use of graphics and the conversations she facilitated on topics such as housing and immigration policy.
“I hope that you are proud of the measurable difference you clearly made for our community,” Board member Matt de Ferranti said. “I know I’m grateful and I know all of us are.”
An Arlington resident since 1989, Helfer teaches Adapted Aquatics here and is a fiddler in an all-female Irish jig band.
“I am going to continue to live and play and volunteer in Arlington,” she told the Board, “so I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”