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Mel Martinez
U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Live Webcast June 26, 2002, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT
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Mel Martinez
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Secretary Mel Martinez was sworn-in as the nation's 12th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on January 24, 2001.
Since its creation in 1965, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has aimed to provide "a decent, safe, and sanitary home and suitable living environment for every American." Martinez oversees the department as it works to create opportunities for homeownership; provides housing assistance for those with low-income; enforces the nation's fair housing laws; helps the homeless; and works to create, rehabilitate and maintain the nation's affordable housing.
Martinez came to this position with extensive experience from his work in Florida. He previously served as Chairman of Orange County, Florida, in Orlando, and served on the Governor's Growth Management Study Commission. Before that, he served as President of the Orlando Utilities Commission, on the board of directors of a community bank, and as Chairman of the Orlando Housing Authority.
Martinez's personal story motivated him to work to help others. Born October 23, 1946, in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, he fled to America in 1962 as part of a Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Pedro Pan that eventually brought 14,000 children to this country. At that time, he was alone and spoke almost no English. Catholic charitable groups provided a temporary home for him at two youth facilities, and he later moved to live with two different foster families. He was reunited with his family in Orlando in 1966.
"I arrived in this country as a teenage refugee from Cuba with nothing but faith in God and myself, and the conviction that America, like nowhere else in the world, was a place where hard work and a life of principle would be rewarded," he said at his nomination hearing in January, 2001.
"I spent my first days in America in a government refugee camp, and I have seen and experienced hardship firsthand. But I also know how desperately those living in hardship just want the chance, the opportunity, to build a better life... Throughout my life, I have witnessed the greatness of America, and the genuine goodness of the American people."
Martinez graduated from Florida State University College of Law in 1973. He was actively involved in community activities during his 25 years of practicing law in Orlando, including serving as Vice President of the Board of Catholic Charities of the Orlando Diocese. As Housing and Urban Development Secretary, he launched HUD's Center for Faith-Based and Community Services, in order to help implement President Bush’s faith-based initiatives.
Related Links:
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Secretary Martinez -- a bio from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
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