Hi, I'm Shep. I work as a Senior CPD Specialist in the Entitlement Communities Division in the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That's a mouthful of acronyms, huh? My office provides Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to 1200+ Metropolitan Cities and Urban Counties across the Nation to help people who are low and moderate-income—and strengthens America's communities in the process. CDBG funding is a flexible resource that can be used for an endless variety of eligible community development activities and projects. It revitalizes disinvested neighborhoods with housing and infrastructure investments, funds economic development projects, and supports community facilities and services, like after-school programs and domestic violence shelters. We do great work, and I'm proud to be part of the Headquarters team that keeps the CDBG Entitlement Program running.Feel free to shoot me a message!________________My BackgroundI started at HUD in 2012 as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF), and have worked in three of HUD's five major offices: 1) Federal Housing Administration (a.k.a. Office of Housing); 2) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO); and 3) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD). I've worked on a wide range of urban policy issues in my 12 years with HUD, including:• city and regional planning;• energy efficiency and lowering utility costs in public and affordable housing;• single-family housing mortgage origination and appraisal policies;• disaster recovery and climate change resilience;• fair housing and residential desegregation; and• equitable community developmentThroughout my HUD career, I've strived to put the people we serve first—working to design products, services, and experiences that work for people. I'm a passionate advocate for clear writing (a.k.a. plain language) and using human-centered design (HCD) to make government work better for the American people. Before HUD, I briefly worked in transportation planning for the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) in Los Angeles, CA and in youth development with the AmeriCorps organization "City Year" in Baton Rouge, LA. I studied Political Science and Philosophy at Sewanee: The University of the South, and received my Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California, specializing in urban design and transportation planning.