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“The office will empower Black men and boys and ensure they have equitable access to opportunities.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, left, looks on as Frank Farrow speaks at a Thursday morning press conference after he was appointed as executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Black Male Advancement. The office will address the challenges disproportionately facing Black men and boys in Boston. Jonathan Wiggs / The Boston Globe

Mayor Michelle Wu has announced a leader for the new Mayor’s Office for Black Male Advancement.

Frank Farrow will serve as executive director of the new office, which will be within the Equity and Inclusion Cabinet. Wu’s office is also accepting applications for the Black Men and Boys Commission, according to a press release.

Farrow is a Roxbury native who recently served as the Roxbury organizing director on Wu’s mayoral campaign. Prior to that, he was the family organizing director for School Facts Boston, where he worked with over 1,600 families to discuss and advocate on issues surrounding improving the city’s educational system.

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Surrounded by those who helped bring the new office to life, Wu discussed the importance of it in a press conference Thursday at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury.

“In Boston, we are going to pick up the mantle under Frank’s leadership and with the service of our commissioners and with the partnership of City Council and all in city government to prioritize this commission’s work uplifting Black men and boys,” she said.

Through the new office, work will be done to help drop systemic barriers to opportunities for Black men and boys in Boston, as well as “improve outcomes,” the release said.

“The office will empower Black men and boys and ensure they have equitable access to opportunities through the concentration of policy, programs, resources, and local and national partnerships,” the release said.

As a Boston native, Farrow said he understands “the persistent social and economic inequities facing Black people, noting that there needs to be programs and resources to help create equal opportunities.

“As a Black man raising two Black boys in this city, I want my sons … to have every opportunity and every resource available to them so the narrative is no longer about Black men and boys needing to be resilient, or striving to be better, but of them thriving and realizing their full potential, and included in the conversations of Boston’s prosperity,” he said.