This series encompasses the principal sequence of digitally created or digitally copied photographic coverages compiled at Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters during the tenures of Secretary Mel Martinez (January, 2001 to December, 2003), Martinez' successor, and one-time Deputy, Alphonso Jackson (Acting Secretary from December, 2003 to March, 2004, and Secretary from March, 2004 to April, 2008), Roy Bernardi (Acting Secretary, April to June, 2008), and Steve Preston (June, 2008 to January, 2009), as well as the bulk (January, 2009 to February, 2014) of the Shaun Donovan tenure. The decided majority (over 95 percent) of the coverages originated in digital form, while the rest, appearing most frequently in the 2001-2002 period, were scanned by contractor labs processing HUD's final batches of film-based imagery.
At the heart of the series documentation is a visual record of each Secretary's daily pursuits: meetings at HUD headquarters with national, state, and local elected officials, housing industry and other business representatives, clergy, social and political activists and commentators, sports and entertainment figures, visiting foreign political dignitaries, old friends and political allies; participation in press conferences, briefings, meetings, congressional hearings, bill-signing and agreement-signing ceremonies, swearing-in ceremonies, historical commemorations, and other events around headquarters and in the Washington, D.C. area; and visits to communities, large and small, across the country for housing project openings and construction ground-breaking events, speeches, program announcements and promotions, discussions with civic leaders and HUD field staff, and tours of projects, neighborhoods, and cultural landmarks.
Coverages from the Martinez years reflect the Secretary's Florida political roots, Cuban-American heritage, and ongoing interest in Hispanic American and international Hispanic issues. Coverages underscore, as well, his strong support for HUD partnerships with faith-based organizations involved in housing assistance and social service work, and his prominent role as a spokesman for President George W. Bush Administration's home ownership initiatives.
Among specific events documented are Martinez' 2001 press conference, promoting the trio of measures designed to expand home ownership opportunities--the American Dream Downpayment Fund, the Renewing the Dream tax credit, and the allowance for expanded use of Section 8 vouchers for home purchases--and also featuring African-American families from Maryland making use of the Downpayment Fund to move from renting to owning status; Martinez' visit to The House, D.C., a church-supported teen center housed in a refurbished one-time drug lair in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (2001); the Secretary's announcement of a HUD partnership with Washington, D.C.'s Church Association for Community Services (CACS), enabling CACS to purchase Federal Housing Administration-foreclosed, vacant properties for renovation and re-sale to low and moderate-income families at below-market prices (2001); Martinez' announcement in New York City, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor George Pataki on hand, of HUD recovery assistance funding for lower Manhattan areas affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; and the Secretary's appearance in Memphis, Tennessee, with Mayor Willie Herenton and pop music legend Isaac Hayes, at the future site of the STAX Museum of American Soul Music and STAX Music Academy, under development with the help of a HUD-backed downtown economic revitalization plan geared toward private-public partnerships (2002).
Also documented are Habitat for Humanity International, Inc. home construction events featuring volunteer turns by Martinez in Washington, D.C. and by his wife, Kitty, in Annapolis, Maryland (2002); the Secretary's participation, with President Bush, in the 2002 White House Conference on Minority Home Ownership, "Blueprint for the American Dream,” as well as participation in 2003 White House press events on subjects including faith-based initiatives, the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Proclamation, and the Cuba Initiative aimed at boosting American competitiveness and reducing Cuba’s dominance in the world’s cigar market; and Martinez' announcement, with Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, of a HUD-Labor partnership designed to assist chronically homeless persons in five target communities (2003).
Amid his extensive travels, Martinez is shown visiting HUD-funded housing developments such as the Fischer Senior Housing Village in New Orleans and the Highbridge Unity Apartments in the South Bronx, New York, as well as other kinds of sites ranging from the Bay of Pigs Veterans Museum in Miami, Florida to the St. Vincent DePaul Homeless Shelter in San Diego, California. Other cities where Martinez stops are documented include Jacksonville, Florida; Islip, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; Mansfield, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; Nashua, Manchester, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Denver, Colorado; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also well documented are the Secretary's foreign ventures to El Salvador, where he announced the release of U.S. funds for earthquake recovery assistance, as well as Nicaragua, Russia, and Spain, where he participated in the U.S.-Spain Forum on the Recovery of Historic Heritage. Among the figures shown visiting Martinez at HUD are international affairs commentator and former U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, Denver, Colorado Mayor John Hickenlooper, Orlando, Florida Mayor Buddy Dyer, the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Countrywide Financial Corporation chief Angelo Mozilo, television talk-show host Montel Williams, Russia's Chairman of the State Committee on Construction, Nikolai Koshman, one-time Cuban military representative to the U.S. and long-time anti-Castro activist, Ramon Barquin, and numerous representatives of the Cuban Liberation Council and the Cuban American National Council.
As for the tenure of Alphonso Jackson, HUD's fourth African-American Secretary and the first HUD Deputy Secretary to be nominated and confirmed as Secretary, photographic coverages reflect a continuation of the Martinez emphasis on raising minority home ownership rates, promoting public-private partnerships in urban development, and maintaining a high Secretarial profile in the field.
Among Jackson activities in focus are his appearance with President Bush at the White House announcement of his Secretarial nomination (2003), and his later appearance with First Lady Laura Bush at a Nashville, Tennessee promotional event for the Preserve America Initiative providing federal support for grassroots efforts aimed at protecting cultural heritage assets (2005); Jackson's announcement, in Las Vegas, Nevada, of a Federal Housing Administration increase of more than 18 percent in single-family home mortgage loan limits (2004); his return to Dallas, Texas, where he had once served as public housing commissioner, to tour the Greenleaf Village development built on the site of a former barracks-style public housing project (2004); his visits to Florida and Alabama to view devastation from Hurricanes Ivan, Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, and to announce, with Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the Reverend Franklin Graham, HUD assistance with relocation, rebuilding, and protection from foreclosure (2004); Jackson's visit to Columbus, Ohio for a press conference on funding of HUD housing assistance programs for the nation's low-income elderly and the disabled (2004); his participation with Secretary of Education Rod Paige in a No Child Left Behind promotional tour covering schools in Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, and Kansas City (2004); and his visit to a service center for the homeless in Los Angeles, where he joined California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for an announcement of HUD grants to 4400 local programs designed to provide housing and social services for a quarter million homeless persons across the country (2005).
Documented, as well, are Jackson's participation, along with that of former Secretaries Martinez, Henry Cisneros, Jack Kemp, and Carla Hills, in HUD 40th anniversary celebrations (2005); Jackson's visit to New Orleans, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (2005); his appearance with Martinez at a Tampa, Florida event highlighting the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program (2005); Jackson's attendance of a Presidential signing ceremony for the bill authorizing the creation of a statue of Rosa Parks for placement in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall (2005); his visit to Biloxi, Mississippi for discussions with Governor Haley Barbour on the progress of that state's Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts (2006); Jackson joining a host of dignitaries--including President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and ex-President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter--in attending funeral services for civil rights luminary Coretta Scott King in Lithonia, Georgia (2006); Jackson's visit to Houston, Texas to announce extension of HUD Disaster Voucher program payments for housing assistance to Katrina evacuees (2007); Jackson's press conference, with New York Attorney General and former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, New York Senator Charles Schumer, and New York Congressman Adolphus Towns, affirming HUD's commitment to affordable housing in a controversial case involving Clipper Equity's bid to purchase the Starrett City housing development in Brooklyn, New York (2007); and Jackson's March 31, 2008 announcement of his impending resignation, made amid a federal probe into charges of political favoritism in the awarding of HUD housing contracts.
Shown meeting with Jackson at HUD are Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Selma, Alabama Mayor James Perkins, Ohio Congressman Michael Turner, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, Texas businessman and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council Chairman Fred Zeidman, international businessman Chris Gardner (whose rags-to-riches story inspired the 2006 movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness"), actors Drew Carey and Lou Gossett, Jr., former pro football stars Darrell Green, Charles Mann, and Ernie Ladd, boxing promoter Don King, gospel music star Shirley Caesar, and columnist Armstrong Williams, among many others.
Coverages from the brief Preston tenure underline the interest taken by this late George W. Bush Administration appointee in stimulating Department re-evaluation and renewal, especially in the face of a 2008 national economic crisis centered on the collapse of the housing market and the rapid escalation of foreclosures. Preston is shown leading town hall meetings, roundtable discussions, and management briefings on his "Impact 200: HUD--200 Days and Beyond of Progress" initiative designed to sharpen the Department's priorities and programs addressing immediate problems as well as long-range challenges. Also spotlighted are Preston's press conference announcement of the "Hope for Homeowners" program created to assist up to a half million foreclosure-threatened homeowners with refinancing via Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages; Preston leading the HUD-sponsored "Summit on Housing: Partnering for Responsible Policy" that brought together more than 800 federal, state, and local leaders for discussions of strategies on dealing with the many ramifications of the recession; Preston participating in HUD-sponsored roundtable discussions on the need for housing counseling and on the importance of efforts to expand financial literacy in broad segments of the American population; and Preston joining other HUD officials at the "National Call to Action Symposium" on regulatory reform and affordable housing.
Assignments from the 2009-2014 period reflect Secretary Donovan's important role in promoting President Barack Obama's economic stimulus centerpiece, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, as well as measures aimed at compensation and protection for homeowners in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis; Donovan's prioritizing of homelessness issues; his efforts to meld housing and urban development goals with energy conservation and other environmental policy objectives; Donovan's interest in "Rust Belt" revitalization and cross-departmental, integrative approaches to urban problems; and his emphasis on HUD management accountability and transparency.
Among Donovan activities featured are his 2009-2011 ARRA promotional visits highlighting inter-city high-speed rail development in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, neighborhood stabilization initiatives in Detroit, Michigan, Columbus, Ohio, and Atlanta, Georgia, major public housing projects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio, "Green Impact Zone" neighborhood revitalization in Kansas City, Missouri, and "Green Retrofit" public housing renovation in Baltimore, Maryland. Also featured are Donovan's 2010 visits to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, during which he announced the launch of HUD's Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities; and his 2013 visits to Philadelphia and to Tampa, Florida to showcase progress under HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Program, part of the multi-agency strategy on urban revitalization (HUD, Health and Human Services, Education, Justice, and Treasury) under the White House's National Revitalization Initiative. Donovan is shown leading press conferences along with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. and other officials, highlighting the 2012 National Mortgage Services Settlement, involving a $25 billion homeowner relief agreement reached by HUD, Department of Justice, and 49 state attorneys general with the nation's five largest mortgage services,, and the Secretary is also shown with Holder, Jr. announcing Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force undertakings on the residential mortgage-backed securities front.
Documented, as well, are the Secretary's 2010 appearance with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in New Orleans, Louisiana to mark recovery achievements on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Donovan's volunteer work, alongside former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter, at a 2010 Habitat for Humanity-World Habitat Day construction project in Washington, D.C.; the Secretary's participation, alongside ex-President Bill Clinton, at a 2012 Clinton Global Initiative event in New York City; Donovan and other Cabinet officials joining President Obama in Falls Church, Virginia for the President's 2012 public address on the economy ("An America Built to Last") and unveiling of a homeowner refinancing assistance initiative; Donovan's 2012 tour of New York and New Jersey areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and his announcement the following year in Brooklyn of the recommendations of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force (chaired by Donovan) on long-term rebuilding strategies for the region.
There is frequent coverage of Donovan leading meetings of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), and pursuing policy coordination with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretaries Hilda Solis and Thomas Perez, and other USICH principals. Also in focus are Secretary Donovan's meetings with homeless citizens and activists at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, the Girard Street "Community of Hope" Shelter, and other Washington, D.C. sites, as well as his late-night investigating and interviewing work on the D.C. streets as part of the 2013 Point in Time Homeless Walk aimed at producing a reliable count of homeless military veterans, other homeless individuals and families across the country. Strategies to combat homelessness are among the many subjects addressed by Donovan in formal speeches documented in this series, which shows him in venues ranging from the 2010 World Urban Forum (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and the 2010 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference (Seattle, Washington) to the 2011 National Low Income Housing Coalition Conference (Washington, D.C.) and the 2013 Greenbuild International Conference and Exposition (Philadelphia). Also heavily documented is Donovan's lead participation in HUD management and staff events, especially Town Hall forums and the "HUDStat" quarterly performance review sessions.
Along with Presidents, ex-Presidents, and other Cabinet Secretaries, the cast of prominent personalities shown with Donovan in meeting and touring contexts includes a host of big-city mayors--New York City's Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia's Michael Nutter, Baltimore's Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Detroit's Dave Bing, Denver's John Hickenlooper, Atlanta's Kasim Reed, and New Orleans' Mitch Landrieu--and other political and cultural figures such as Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, Missouri Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver, White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Director of the Human Settlements Program,, Joan Clos, actor Brad Pitt, and musician Jon Bon Jovi.
Alphonso Jackson's earlier speaking, meeting, and touring functions as Deputy Secretary are also covered, as are the activities, in turn, of Jackson's and Preston's Deputy (and, between the Jackson and Preston eras, Acting Secretary), Roy Bernardi, and Donovan's Deputy Secretaries Ron Sims and Maurice Jones. Beyond the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, other HUD senior policy-makers and aides make frequent appearances in this series, in portrait as well as swearing-in and other activity contexts. Bernardi appears in his earlier role as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. Among other senior officials represented are Assistant Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management (later Community Planning head) Pamela Patenaude; Patenaude's Community Planning and Development successors Susan Peppler and Mercedes Marquez,; Assistant Secretaries for Public and Indian Housing Michael Liu, Orlando Cabrera, and Sandra Henriquez; Assistant Secretaries for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioners John Weicher, Brian Montgomery, David Stevens, and Carol Galante; Assistant Secretaries for Administration Vickers Meadows and Keith Nelson; Chief Human Capital Officers Janie Payne and Mike Anderson; Assistant Secretaries for Policy Development and Research Alberto Trevino, Dennis Shea, Darlene Williams, and Raphael Bostic; Assistant Secretaries for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Carolyn Peoples, Kim Kendrick, and John Trasvina; Assistant Secretaries for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations Steve Nesmith, Sheila Greenwood, and Peter Kovar; Assistant Secretaries for Public Affairs Diane Tomb, Cathy MacFarlane, and Melanie Rousell; General Counsels Richard Hauser, Keith Gottfried, Robert Couch, and Helen Konovsky; Inspector Generals Kenneth Donohue and David Montoya; Departmental Operations and Coordination Director Frank Davis;, and Chief Operating Officer Estelle Richman; Secretarial Chiefs of Staff Dan Murphy, Robert Woodson, Jr., Frank Jiminez, Camille Pierce, and Laurel Blatchford; Secretarial Senior Policy Advisor Phil Musser and Senior Counselor A. Bryant Applegate; Government National Mortgage Association Presidents Ronald Rosenfeld, Robert Couch, Joseph Murin, and Ted Tozer; U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Directors Philip Mangano, Barbara Poppe, and Laura Zeilinger; and Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Directors Steve Wagner and Mark Linton.
Many of these officials appear, along with the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, in coverages of urban policy summits and roundtables, as well as in coverages of annual HUD gatherings and ceremonies. The latter range from Fair Housing Month, Home Ownership Month, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday programs, to budget planning meetings, to Memorial Day events and commemorations of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. HUD officials are also featured in construction site tour and completion ceremony coverages relating to HUD headquarters (James C. Weaver Federal Building) renovation projects, most notably the 2007-2008 child care center addition and cafeteria upgrade, and the 2008 renovation of the auditorium, dedicated upon project completion as the Brooke-Mondale Auditorium in honor of the co-sponsors of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, Senators Edward Brooke III and Walter Mondale. While content bearing directly on HUD officials, events, and Department initiatives certainly predominates in this series, there are occasional photographic ventures of a more contextual nature. For example, the series includes coverage of a 2002 protest, staged in front of HUD headquarters, calling into question government policy on homelessness, as well as coverage of a 2006 demonstration in Houston, Texas by Hispanic and other activists on behalf of immigrant rights. There are also compilations of images, taken at the edges--literal or figurative--of official assignments, showing residents, street life, homes, public buildings, signs, and murals in locales across the country. Additionally, there are a few "historical highlights" clusters (see especially 207-DP-10017), featuring scanned versions of photos of Presidents and HUD Secretaries, the HUD headquarters building and various urban neighborhoods, projects, and events from the final four decades of the 20th Century.
The majority of the 2001-2009 images in this series were taken by two of the veteran news and feature photographers, David Valdez and Ronald "Ron" Bennett, on the HUD staff, with significant contributions coming as well from staff cameramen Ricardo "Rick" Vargas and Ed Bradham. For subsequent years, the bulk of the imagery came from HUD staff photographers Jeff Blakley, Laurent Fox, Sammy Mayo, Jr., and Mike Lent. There are also scattered images by White House photographers Eric Draper, Paul Morse, Tina Hager, Chuck Kennedy, Sonya Hebert, and Pete Souza, as well as a few clusters shot by HUD non-photographic staffers (e.g., public affairs personnel Jerry Brown, Brian Sullivan, Cathy MacFarlane, and Rhonda Siciliano), HUD contractors, and commercial photographers not working directly for HUD. Among HUD-acquired photos is one, from coverage of Secretary Martinez' Spain trip, taken by Sergio Barrenechea of the Madrid, Spain-based commercial media firm, EFE.
