CEDO Director Luke McGowan to Join Biden Administration and Begin Position as Senior Advisor on White House Intergovernmental Affairs Team 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
February 3, 2021 
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia 
(802) 734-0617 

CEDO Director Luke McGowan to Join Biden Administration and Begin Position as Senior Advisor on White House Intergovernmental Affairs Team 

Burlington, VT – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced that Luke McGowan, Director of the City’s Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO), will leave the City to join the administration of President Joe Biden. Luke has accepted a position as a senior advisor on the White House Intergovernmental Affairs Team, where he will lead the stimulus and economic recovery efforts with state and local governments. That work will focus on implementing stimulus efforts, identifying new infrastructure projects, and ensuring that the economic recovery supports climate resilience and racial justice. 

“There is no more important work in America today than helping the Biden-Harris administration succeed,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “While I am sad to lose Luke as CEDO Director, I am grateful for his service to the City of Burlington and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as we rebuild from 2020 at all levels of government.” 

During Luke’s tenure as CEDO Director, he led work on multiple significant achievements, including: 

• Breaking ground to transform the former Moran Plant into the Moran Frame, bringing resolution to this long-abandoned site and restoring public access to this part of the waterfront; 
• Internally reorganizing CEDO to advance community works projects; 
• Securing more than $3.6 million to the City of Burlington from HUD to help protect low-income children and families from lead-based paint and home health hazards; and 
• Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic by  launching the City’s Covid-19 Resource & Recovery Center to deploy relief funds, support people in quarantine, lead a working group of senior care providers, and answer more than 2,000 individual requests for help; helping to create permanent, year-round, and low-barrier temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness at the Champlain Inn; and identify and secure new funding streams, particularly FEMA and LGER grants. 

Katie Kinstedt, who is CEDO’s Assistant Director for Administration and Finance and who has played a leadership role in securing funding for Covid-19 relief, will serve as CEDO’s Interim Director. The search process for the next CEDO Director will begin following Town Meeting Day. 

“I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to serve the City of Burlington and Mayor Weinberger’s administration,” said Luke McGowan. “As I imagine is the case for so many, the past year has been one of the most challenging but meaningful of my time in public service. In light of this challenging year, the call to serve the Biden Administration feels even more urgent, and I look forward to doing everything I can to repair and rebuild at both the local and federal level, and deepen the connections between the two. I’m so proud of the work that the CEDO team does every day, and know that CEDO will continue to do so much to support affordable housing, access to opportunity, public projects, community engagement, and restorative justice in Burlington.” 

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