Introducing Charles Allen |
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Written by Charles Allen
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Tuesday, 24 April 2007 |
Hi, my name is Charles Allen. I’m Councilmember Wells’ Chief of Staff. In this role, I’m responsible for managing the office and our staff, developing and implementing a legislative and policy strategy, keeping Tommy up to speed with all the different demands on his time, and making the connections between each staff person’s work to tie in to Tommy’s overall vision for the Ward and District.
Every day brings a different challenge and this job keeps you on your toes at all times. On any given day, I might spend some time drafting legislation for Tommy to introduce, work with an ANC Commissioner to solve a local problem, set up and schedule one of Tommy’s Community Walk Through’s, work with the Mayor’s staff to get a constituent’s concern addressed, and work with our committee staff to make sure services are delivered to vulnerable residents. And that’s usually before I can finish the first cup of coffee… Since Tommy has directed that every staff person in our office to make constituent services a part of our job, I am also always looking to pick up on trends and concerns in those requests for assistance to see how we can help change the big picture and solve more systemic problems.
Before joining Tommy’s team, I spent the last several years working for a group called the DC Primary Care Association as their Director of Public Policy. At that job, I worked with many partners throughout the city to focus on expanding health care access for low-income residents. That also gave me a lot of exposure to the Council, working on legislative and budget issues.
I am very proud to be part of a great team that Tommy has assembled to serve Ward 6. Every member of our staff brings a different skill to the table and part of my challenge is to make sure we are firing on all pistons to help Tommy succeed and to serve you as best we can.
One person has commented on this article. (1) Untitled 2007-04-30 18:45:45 Congratulations, Charles. And congratulations to Tommy wells for picking such an excellent Chief of Staff. The people of District 6 are lucky to have 2 such fine people working for us. |