U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan has named Adolfo Carrión to serve as the Regional Director for New York and New Jersey. Carrión, is currently Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs. In that role, Carrión has worked to advance President Obama's agenda for urban America to make our cities and metropolitan areas more economically competitive, environmentally sustainable, and socially inclusive. His work establishing the Office of Urban Affairs has been credited with breaking down the silos that exist in the federal government to get the Federal Agencies better coordinated to deliver innovative results for America's communities, something strongly reflected in the President's FY2011 budget.
Prior to his work in the White House, Carrión has had a record of success on issues of housing and community development, economic development and job creation, and building strong neighborhoods.
"I have worked closely with Adolfo here in Washington and previously in New York and I am excited that we can continue working together to rebuild our economy, our housing markets and our communities," said Donovan. "Adolfo knows the New York and New Jersey region and its economic and affordable housing challenges. The wealth of information he has gathered on his nationwide Urban Affairs listening tour will be of great use to HUD as we transform our agency to better assist the American people."
"President Obama's bottom-up approach to addressing the nation's challenges is why I gladly accepted the challenge of being the first director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs," said Carrión. "Now that the foundation is poured and we are beginning to implement this strategy, I'm delighted to join my long time friend and colleague, Shaun Donovan, to fully implement this comprehensive urban development vision in my home region and across the country. The federal agencies are now working in a robust collaborative process to ensure we are getting the best return on investment in economic development, smart infrastructure, and building strong neighborhoods. I look forward to working with the team at HUD, across all 10 regions, and with our congressional partners, city and county leaders and the private sector, to secure a better future for America's families."
In his new position, Carrión will serve as HUD's liaison to mayors, city managers, elected representatives, state and local officials, congressional delegations, stakeholders and customers and will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of HUD programs and services to communities, and evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness. He will also serve as an advisor on intergovernmental relations to HUD secretary Shaun Donovan, bringing lessons learned and new approaches from his time at the White House to the local level, and ensuring the agency's major policy initiatives are implemented across the country in ways attuned to local needs and conditions. The New York Regional Office is one of the largest in the country in terms of population-served, programs, and portfolio. Region II encompasses New York and New Jersey, and is responsible for investments of approximately $1 billion a year.
Carrión's career began as a school teacher in the Bronx when, after becoming increasingly involved in the needs of students and their parents, he chose to pursue urban planning as a means to positively impact their total environment. He earned a Masters in urban planning from Hunter College in New York, and then worked for three years in the New York City Department of City Planning. After overseeing the development of a major transportation hub and land use strategy for the West Bronx, he became District Manager of his community's local planning board in 1992 and was then elected to the City Council in 1997.
After serving one term in the City Council, Carrión was elected Bronx Borough President, representing the borough's 1.4 million residents. Under Carrión's leadership, total investment in the borough increased from $361 million/year in 2002, to almost $1 billion/year in 2008. Unemployment was cut in half, due in large part to Carrion's aggressive pursuit of employment opportunities for local residents in the implementation of the largest infrastructure, residential and commercial redevelopment of the borough since the 1920's. On March 2, 2009, Carrión stepped down from the borough presidency and the presidency of the National Association of Latino Elected/Appointed Officials to join the White House.
Carrión is married to Linda Baldwin who serves as director of the SMART Office at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He is the father of three daughters and a son.
For more information, visit www.hud.gov.
