Massachusetts municipal leaders say they are committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the local level, regardless of President Donald Trump’s executive order shutting down federal DEI efforts.

“We are steadfast on doing what we’ve got to do on the ground,” said Faustina Cuevas, who is the DEI officer in the city of Lynn and chair of a coalition of diversity directors from over 50 Massachusetts cities and towns. “Whatever is coming out of Washington, we’re just going to keep full steam ahead. You know, I consider ourselves like an Amtrak. We’re just gonna go.”

Many localities established diversity director positions in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the country’s racial reckoning in 2020, but those positions saw high turnover rates as the new directors struggled to gain traction with other municipal leaders . Now, many of these directors have become integral parts of their local governments, and Cuevas and other local leaders say they have heard no call inside Massachusetts to roll back this work.

After Trump published his executive order, Springfield’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Judith Crowell said she got an email from the mayor saying his office would continue to pursue DEI work under her leadership. Crowell said she is grateful for the support.

Cuevas said she and her colleagues in other municipalities feel similar support.

In fact, at the end of October, the Massachusetts Municipal Association — representing all the local governments in the state — announced the hiring of its first chief equity officer to help communities advance their equity initiatives. Adam Chapdelaine, the association’s executive director, said it’s a continuation of work the MMA began years ago.

“Local governments in Massachusetts have been engaging in the important diversity, equity and inclusion work because of the need to provide their services equitably and to become more diverse and inclusive workplaces,” he said in a statement. “This work looks different across communities, due to differences in resources, staffing and demographics.”

The DEI coalition Cuevas chairs is also planning to roll out later this year an updated guide to help municipalities implement diversity initiatives.

Crowell says part of the criticism of DEI is because people misunderstand the purpose of those efforts. There is a perception that it is simply about hiring people from minority communities, but “it is so much more than that.” She says her Springfield office considers issues like how to make services available to people with disabilities, how to include seniors, and how to make sure city job or contract postings are widely distributed to reach people from different backgrounds.

“It’s a bigger spectrum than what this presidential administration is making it seem like,” she said. “And that’s what I find most unfortunate.”

Across the state in Provincetown, DEI Director Donna Walker says she is concerned about how federal grant money for DEI efforts will be affected by Trump’s order. “Being able to receive any kind of grant funding — well, that’s probably going to be dried up on the federal level,” she said. “It means having to look at any other kinds of funding to assist us with the kinds of programs that we put in place.”

But Walker says the fundamental premise of DEI is fairness: Making sure city policies and rules give everyone a fair chance to be included. And her city is not abandoning that. “It’s all about inclusion, really. And we can talk about the benefits of that inclusion being ‘belonging.’ I think we have a town that wants to look at what we do as fairly as possible.”