Spotlight Contributes Another Advisor to the Administration!
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is contributing a second member of our Advisory Council to the Obama Administration. Mark H. Greenberg has been appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the Department of Health and Human Services. He follows Spotlight advisor, friend and Brookings economist Becky Blank, who was tapped earlier this year as Deputy Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Commerce Department. The Obama team certainly knows where to look for quality recruits!
Mark is one of the smartest and most passionate policy analysts and advocates in the poverty policy world. He is also among a handful of welfare analysts who is widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his rigor and integrity.
Mark۪s accomplishments are legion. He spent two decades at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) where he served as Policy Director and uber-wonk. At CLASP Greenberg focused on issues relating to federal and state welfare reform efforts; employment, training, and workforce issues affecting low-income families; child care and early education policy; and public benefits issues. Mark also did a two-year gig at the Center for American Progress (CAP), where he headed up the Task Force on Poverty and honchoed the release of the hugely influential Task Force report “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half.” In that report, Mark called for a national goal of cutting poverty in half in the next 10 years and proposed a strategy to reach that goal. Mark and the Taskforce report have led the way in revitalizing poverty reduction efforts on the national policy agenda.
Most recently, Mark was part of the troika (with Peter Edelman and Harry Holtzer) that founded the Georgetown University Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy, a joint initiative of the Georgetown University Law center and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. At Georgetown, Mark along with Becky Blank was one of the main movers and shakers pushing for the overhaul of the federal poverty measure.
At ACF, Mark is likely to be one of the key players in shaping the upcoming reauthorization of TANF, which is scheduled for Congressional attention in 2010. He will surely push to refocus the legislation on reducing poverty and promoting opportunity. If Team Obama takes on efforts to modernize the poverty measure, Mark and, again with Becky, could also be a point person.
OOTS could not be prouder to have one of our closest and longest buddies heading up welfare policy at HHS!
Posted by Mike
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Here at Out of the Spotlight, we offer a behind-the-scenes look at the latest news and information essential to anyone working to fight poverty. From key political appointees to clashes over policy, we cover the news that doesn۪t always make the evening news. Check out Out of the Spotlight for our take on the twists and turns of the latest political developments and its impact on poverty reduction. Topics and ideas are welcome! Just contact mlaracy@aecf.org or watersboots@hotmail.com