[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 19 (Monday, February 6, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING MRS. LaVERDA O. ALLEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 6, 2012

  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and 
honor Mrs. LaVerda O. Allen as she turns 80 years old. On behalf of our 
diverse Bay Area community, I would like to personally wish Mrs. Allen 
a very happy birthday surrounded by family, friends, colleagues and 
community leaders. Her efforts to advance equal education and work 
opportunities for women and people of color have spanned over 6 
decades. Mrs. Allen is truly an icon in the African American community, 
and the broad reach of her influence continues to touch communities, 
both near and far.
  A long-time Oakland and East Bay resident, Mrs. Allen moved to 
Oakland with her family in 1943. After graduating early, with honors, 
from Oakland Technical High School, she attended the University of 
California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University, where she 
received a B.A. in Social Work and an M.A. in Education Administration. 
During her early career as an educator, Mrs. Allen helped to develop 
curriculum throughout the Berkeley Unified School District and Peralta 
Community College District. She also assisted in developing the first 
financial aid program for state community colleges. Together with her 
husband and business partner, she ran Bay Cities Beauty Supplies, an 
entrepreneurial enterprise focused on hair care products for African 
Americans. Furthermore, her trailblazing experience as a woman and 
minority business owner led her to a path of advocacy that would pave 
the way for countless others to follow.
  For more than 20 years, Mrs. Allen has been Owner and Principal of 
The Allen Group, LLC, (TAG) a project and construction management firm 
committed to advocating on behalf of minority businesses in the 
engineering-construction industry. She is a stalwart leader in the 
development of minority, woman-owned and disadvantaged business 
enterprise programs, and has been a consultant developing agendas to 
empower architects, engineers and construction contractors in this 
field since 1971. She and TAG have held management roles in large-
scale, complex projects that have been critical to the future of sound 
Bay Area infrastructure.
  Among her many accolades, LaVerda Allen has received an Honorary 
Doctorate Degree from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She 
is an active and prominent member of myriad organizations advocating 
for the rights of children and the mentally ill. She co-authored the 
Nation's first Affirmative Action program that called for minority 
participation by craft, has served on the San Francisco Human Rights 
Advisory Committee, and was instrumental in the passage of the San 
Francisco Minority and Woman Owned Business ordinance in 1988. She was 
a cofounder of the National Association of Minority Contractors, served 
as the chair of the Berkeley chapter of the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People Education and Labor Committee during 
the civil rights movement, and was a board member of the Berkeley 
Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
  Therefore, on behalf of California's 9th Congressional District, Mrs. 
LaVerda O. Allen, I salute you for your amazing achievements and on 
this remarkable milestone. Thank you for your many continued 
contributions to equality, prosperity and justice in our communities. I 
wish you much more success, happiness and well-being in the coming 
years. And, once again, Happy Birthday.

                          ____________________