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housing with mixed income developments. W e ensured that the over 250

grantees provided affected residents with case management and other services.
W e disbursed Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) and Resident Opportunity and
Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) grant funds to Public Housing Authorities through

Competitions. W e initiated the Jobs Plus Program, replicating an
MDRC/Rockefeller pilot program from the 1990s. This involved developing
guidelines for the program, competing the funds, and monitoring or guiding

the grantees. W e developed an education program that resulted in funding nine
PHAs with funds to hire education navigators to assist teenagers in public
housing to complete the Free Application for Student Aid (F AFSA) forms. In

addition, we worked with the Book Rich Environment, distributing over
250,000 books to public housing families. W e launched an effort to connect
fathers with their children in public housing, called the HUD Fatherhood
Initiative. As many as 1,100 PHAs and Multi-Family owners participated in

this annual event on Father’s Day . W e developed the ‘With Every Heartbeat is
Life’ program, an initiative with the National Institute of Health that focused
on hiring Community Health W orkers to prevent and manage cardiovascular

illnesses among public housing residents.

Through all my federal responsibilities, HUD provided services to our most

vulnerable American public, always perpetuating fiscal stewardship.

I am Barry Grier and I served in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). I am a past 2 Vice President for the Maryland
nd
Federation of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
(NARFE) and Calvert County Chapter President. While working at HUD, I
earned my "stripes" as an activist and advocate for federal employees as the
President of Baltimore Local 3122 of the American Federation of Government

Employees (AFGE) for seven years. Both NARFE and Local 3122 have
similar core missions: working for the betterment of active and retired federal

employees. So, you see, I exchanged the AFGE "hat" for one for NARFE,
and it was a natural "fit."

I am Lauretta Williams Grier and I served in the Department of Housing

and Urban Development, after working at the National Institutes of Health

and the Food and Drug Administration. At HUD, I managed the training and

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