HUD Birmingham Office Led Federal Coalition in Black History Month Program

HUD Birmingham Field Office Director, Michael German presents Angelia Walker with a certificate of appreciation after her keynote remarks at annual Black History Month Program.

The HUD Birmingham Office partnered with the Department of Labor, the Veterans Administration, and the General Services Administration to offer a moving Black History Month Program on February 19, 2013.

The key note speaker was Angelia Walker a veteran of more than 25 years with the NASA in Huntsville. Walker leads a team of 135 system engineers in the development design integration and system analysis of the United States next heavy lift capability launch vehicle that will carry humans and cargo into deep space and beyond. She also led the team that helped re-launch the national space program following the Challenger explosion. Walker directed her remarks to the more than sixty young students attending the event. She told them the reality of the world we live in today is if they wanted to be competitive in the job market of the future they would need to invest in education in engineering and the sciences.

Naomi Truman, Executive Director of the Housing Authority in Birmingham, announced an essay contest for students in grades 6, 7 and 8 in Jefferson County. The contest requires students write about the importance of education in science and engineering and their compositions will be evaluated by Ms. Walker's team in NASA. Prizes, including a scholarship to space camp, will be awarded to the first place winner in each age group,.

Recognizing the 50th anniversary of Birmingham's Civil Rights Movement, Bishop Calvin Woods was awarded the HUD 2013 Civil Rights Trail Blazer Award. The 80 year old icon delivered the morning's most powerful moments when he talked about what he and others had been through, so that we have the freedom we enjoy today. The program also featured jazz music by the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Jazz Combo and spoken word by poet Caneeka Miller.

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