During the campaign, President Obama promised that his administration would take over coordination of all federal urban assistance programs and policies. Less than a week after signing an economic stimulus package that will send billions of dollars to American cities, Obama acted on that promise by issuing an executive order creating the White House Office of Urban Affairs.
Saying he wanted "to bring long overdue attention to the urban areas where 80% of the American people live and work," Obama signed the order creating his Urban Affairs office to "focus on wise investments and development in our urban areas that will create employment and housing opportunities and make our country more competitive, prosperous, and strong." In other words, the job will be to make sure that all the billions of taxpayer dollars dedicated to urban areas every year really benefit those areas their citizens.
In doing its job, the Office of Urban Affairs will coordinate the urban policy efforts of no less than 10 federal executive agencies: Treasury, Justice, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.
To head up the new Office of Urban Affairs, President Obama tagged Adolfo Carrion, former Bronx Borough President and President of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), to serve as White House Director of Urban Affairs. Obama also appointed Derek Douglas to serve as Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs. Douglas has served as Washington Counsel to New York Governor David A. Paterson and Director of Governor Paterson's Washington, D.C. Office.
Also See:
The Economic Stimulus Package and How it Could Affect You
Regulations Close Doors to Affordable Housing, HUD Finds
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