Alvin Brown currently serves as a member of Vice President Al Gore’s inner circle, in his capacity as the Executive Director of the Community empowerment Board, Office of the Vice President. As Executive Director, Brown is responsible for leading the Clinton / Gore Administration’s overall community empowerment initiatives, with special emphasis on the Empowerment Zone / Enterprise Community Program. He is charged with the responsibility of coordinating and marshaling federal and private-sector resources to assist distressed urban and rural communities in their redevelopment efforts. He works closely with the senior staff of the White House, the leadership on capitol Hill, and business leaders in the private sector. Mr. Brown also co-chairs the White House Livability Task Force, and serves as the lead for the Vice President’s office for the Southwest Border Initiative, the BusinessLINC initiative, the Mississippi Delta Initiative, and the President’s District of Columbia Task Force. The Vice President appointed Mr. Brown to his current post in February 1999.

Chaired by Vice President Gore and comprised of the heads of 26 federal Cabinet agencies, the CEB was established in 1993 to provide federal support to the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community initiative. Designated EZs and ECs can tap various federal resources and assistance to create jobs, foster business development, expand capital access, and empower the local residents. The first 11 Empowerment Zones and 94 Enterprise Communities were designated communities and unprecedented levels of public-private partnerships. Another 20 Empowerment Zones were designated in January 1999. These new zones are expected to created or retain about 90,000 jobs and stimulate over $20 billion in private and public investments over the next ten years.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Brown served on the staff of HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo as his Director of the Office of Special Actions. Brown was responsible for leading the Department’s efforts on Secretarial initiatives and projects, including minority outreach, business development, and an overhaul of the Department’s disaster response effort. He also served as the HUD representative to the White House District of Columbia Task Force.

One of Mr. Brown’s primary responsibilities was working with the small and minority-owned business community. he assisted businesses in accessing HUD programs and available capital, and informing them of opportunities to partner with the federal government or with other businesses.

Mr. Brown was instrumental in the effort to reinvent the Department through the HUD 2020 Management Reform, a reform program that reduced staffing, consolidated offices and computer systems, and put HUD back into the community. Additionally, he was involved in the HUD effort that transformed public housing, reducing segregation by race and income, encouraged and rewarded work, and brought more families into public housing. Mr. Brown helped to fight housing discrimination while at HUD, and worked on issues ranging from predatory lending practices to outright discrimination in housing sales to minorities and the disabled.
Mr. Brown’s previous service to the Clinton / Gore administration includes Director of the Empowerment Zone / Enterprise Community Program and Deputy Administrator for Rural Business under Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman; Senior Advisor for Economic Development to the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown; Deputy Associate Director for Presidential Personnel, The White House; and member of the President-Elect Clinton/Gore transition staff.

Prior to his federal service, Mr. Brown worked in the private sector for several Fortune 500 companies. He is the recipient of the 1999 Congressional Black Caucus Chairman’s Award and 1999 Congress of National Black Churches Leadership Award as well as numerous recognitions for his service on behalf of distressed communities. Mr. Brown received his MBA and B.S. from Jacksonville University in Florida and has completed postgraduate work at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Mr. Brown is married to Santhea Hicks.