[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 29641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       A SALUTE TO FLORETTA CHISOM ON HER RETIREMENT, OAKLAND, CA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 10, 1999

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and to salute Floretta 
Chisom on her retirement from her position as the Director of the City 
of Oakland's Department of Aging, Health and Human Services.
  Ms. Chisom's professional career, spanning more than a quarter 
century, began as the Director of the East Oakland Parent Participation 
Nursery School. She also served as Director of the District Parent 
Program for the San Francisco Unified School District and the Parent 
Education Program for the San Francisco Community College District, 
Assistant Director of the Life Enrichment Agency, and as Executive 
Director of Oakland's Community Action Agency.
  Ms. Chisom also served for fifteen years as the Director of Oakland 
Head Start, helping the program to grow from serving fewer than 200 
children to more than 1,500 children. While at the Oakland Head Start, 
Ms. Chisom was responsible for a number of innovative and pilot 
programs, including Home Base (where teachers visit families and 
provide instruction to parents in the home), services to homeless 
families with children of Head Start age, and a program to provide Head 
Start through family day care homes.
  Since 1992, Ms. Chisom served as the Director of the City of 
Oakland's Office of Health and Human Services. In that role, she served 
as the Executive Director of the City's Community Action Agency as well 
as staffing a number of other city boards and commissions. She began 
Oakland's involvement with the California Healthy Cities program, 
assisted the City to develop a Child Care Plan, a Homeless Plan, and 
promoted expansion of programs to address homelessness, hunger, 
illiteracy and poverty.
  In response to the termination of Aid to Families with Dependent 
Children (AFDC), and the creation of CalWORKSs, Ms. Chisom established 
the City of Oakland's Welfare Reform Coordinating Committee and served 
as Chair of the Committee. During this time, she was appointed as the 
Welfare Reform Manager for the City and, along with the Community 
Action Agency, coordinated the development of the City of Oakland's 
Welfare to Work Training Program.
  In addition to her career in the public sector, Ms. Chisom is also 
active in many volunteer organizations including previously serving as 
a Board Member of the Breast Cancer Fund and her recent appointment to 
the California Breast Cancer Research Council.
  I proudly join friends and colleagues in thanking and saluting Ms. 
Chisom on her twenty-five years of dedicated public service, leadership 
and innovation to the people and City of Oakland and extend my best 
wishes to her on her upcoming retirement.

                          ____________________