For immediate release: Thursday, May 28, 2026
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NEWS RELEASE: Rachel Pearl appointed to lead Department of County Human Services
Experienced leader hired as permanent director after serving as interim director since October 2025
Multnomah County, Ore. (May 28, 2026) — On Thursday, May 28, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Chair Jessica Vega Pederson’s appointment of Rachel Pearl as director of the Department of County Human Services.
Pearl has extensive leadership experience in the department. Hired in 2022 as deputy director, she has also stepped into other roles, including interim director of the department’s Preschool and Early Learning Division, which includes the Preschool for All program, and interim director of the department’s Youth and Family Services Division. Pearl has served as interim director of the department since October 2025.
Following a national hiring search, led in-house, Pearl was chosen from a pool of 90 strong candidates to continue leading the department.
“Rachel has already proven her mettle for this job. As interim director, Rachel has overseen the largest expansion of Preschool for All in the program’s history, increased our aid to immigrant and refugee communities in the face of harmful federal policies, helped keep thousands of families on the edge of homelessness housed, and so much more,” said Chair Vega Pederson.
“Her experience, creativity and ability to get things done prove she is the right person for the Department of County Human Services at this pivotal moment, when our social safety net services are more needed than ever before.”
The Department of County Human Services provides programs and services that support stability for Multnomah County residents — before, during and after a crisis. It supports pathways toward long-term stability and self-sufficiency for children and families, people with disabilities, older adults, veterans, victims and survivors of domestic violence, and people at all stages of life and backgrounds.
Pearl brings over 25 years of experience in leadership and operations roles — from working to break the cycle of generational poverty for children and families to serving young people whose lives intersect with the legal system.
Throughout, she has helped organizations to leverage their strengths, create connections, and support people of all stages and walks of life as they forge their own paths forward.
Her deft leadership and ability to form strong, genuine relationships among colleagues and the community alike make her a natural fit to helm the department.
As the permanent director, Pearl will build on the work she’s already begun at the department — one of the County’s largest and most complex, with approximately 1,140 employees and a $440 million budget in FY 2026.
While building a department budget that aims to protect front-line services in the face of challenging financial realities, Pearl has also overseen and managed the department’s responses to audits, streamlined contracting processes, and strengthened management’s relationship with its labor partners and the department’s relationships with contracted providers.
Pearl helped both the department and the wider community navigate a federal shutdown crisis that threatened food assistance and other support services that vulnerable community members depend on for safety and stability.
She has also consistently provided a hands-on presence during severe weather emergencies. Her team ensures that there are places for hundreds of community members to find relief and safety during dangerously hot and cold weather, providing life-saving resources to the community.
Pearl has championed the department’s anti-poverty and eviction prevention programs — key ingredients for keeping people, particularly families and children, out of homelessness in the first place — and ensuring they were critical parts of the Homelessness Response Action Plan.
Foundation built on family and community
Pearl’s foundation in public services is rooted in her upbringing. Her parents were both educators. Her father was a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz and University of Oregon, where he started the Upward Bound program. And her mother worked as a school principal who served as a school board member and a teacher’s aide for children with special needs.
“Our home became an open door for people who needed a sense of community,” Pearl says. “That's how my parents were. We have community, we create community, we show up for people.”
She honors her late parents’ legacy, she says, through her commitment to public service and removing barriers so that others can thrive.
Outside of work, Pearl spends a lot of time with her family and her four kids at their theater productions or sporting events, volunteering together as a family, going to fitness classes with her daughters, and gardening.
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