The Senate confirmed more than two dozen nominees of President Barack Obama yesterday, including three leaders of family and child-serving agencies.
Patrick Corvington was confirmed to be chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Corvington, who was previously senior associate in the Leadership Development Unit at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, was nominated in October.
Obama originally selected Nike Foundation Vice President Maria Eitel to head the agency, which operates AmeriCorps and other service-learning programs, but Eitel abruptly withdrew from consideration – before her name was sent to the Senate – citing health reasons.
Corvington will be the first confirmed CEO at the corporation since David Eisner resigned in October of 2008. Nicola Goren, Eisner’s chief of staff, has been acting as interim CEO.
Bryan Samuels was confirmed to serve as commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, part of the Administration on Children and Families (ACF) at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Samuels was director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and a former top aide to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan when Duncan led Chicago Public Schools.
Samuels answers to the assistant secretary at ACF, Carmen Nazario. Samuels’ division of ACF oversees two major youth services funders: the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) and the Children’s Bureau.
Susan B. Carbon was confirmed as director of the Office on Violence Against Women, a division of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs. Carbon, a former New Hampshire family division judge, was president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges from 2007 to 2008.
Carbon’s office oversees a number of programs that confront domestic and dating violence, and funds services for children exposed to violence.
The confirmations eased some of the tension between the administration and Senate Republicans caused by the blanket hold that had been placed by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) on confirmation votes for 70 nominees. Shelby placed the hold to protest the lack of funding for two projects in his state. He removed most of the holds, keeping holds on nominees related to the two projects.
