TABLE OF CONTENTS

Collection Summary

Administrative History of the Division of Federal & State Programs and Mayor’s Office Administration

Scope and Contents of the Records

Arrangement

Restrictions

Index Terms

Related Material

Administrative Information

Mayor Marc H. Morial

A Description of the Records of the Division of Federal & State Programs and Mayor’s Office Administration

Administrative History of the Division of Federal & State Programs and Mayor’s Office Administration

This unit of the Mayor's Office is listed in City operating budget documents as the Division of Administration and Policy Planning (2000-2002) and as the Human Resources Administration Division prior to that period. A separate document prepared at the end of the Morial administration in 2002, however, states that "the Division of Federal and State Programs and Mayor’s Office Administration was established in October, 1995 in the first reorganization of the Morial Administration."

During the 1970s the city had an Office of Federal Programs that worked to secure and manage the significant percentage of the city’s budget that was funded with federal dollars. In later years OFP was disbanded and its functions were delegated to other offices within city government. In the 1994 transition process the Federal Programs Task Force found that each city department was assuming responsibility for its own federal grant programs and applications. That proved to be less than the most efficient way to handle such affairs.

The charge of the Office of Federal and State Programs was to develop and manage grant funding for the City of New Orleans. Additionally, the Office coordinated grant regulatory compliance and single audit resolution. It provided administrative management to several competitive initiatives with the Mayor’s Office. It administered the the city’s Enterprise Community program awarded through the Empowerment Zone application submitted in 1994; the city’s Healthy Start Initiatives with services provided by the Great Expectations Foundation, Inc.; and the city’s Weed & Seed program for reclaiming neighborhoods and making them safe for families.

The mission of the Office of Health Policy was to provide leadership, direction and oversight to the city’s ability to respond effectively and in a timely manner to the growing HIV and substance abuse epidemics in New Orleans (and in surrounding areas for HIV services). The Orleans Regional AIDS Planning Council and the New Orleans Minority Health Care Collaborative worked with the Mayor’s Office to provide leadership and direction in determining HIV and substance abuse prevention needs and methods to meet those needs. OHP served as the administrative agency for Ryan White Title I funds for the New Orleans Eligible Metropolitan Area (Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes).

The mission of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs is to develop and implement policy and initiatives that impact this city’s human capital. This office provided both technical and programmatic support, outreach and human resources to a variety of community based initiatives. It was the city’s networking avenue to community activities and events and had the responsibility for directly focusing the efforts of the administration to the community.

The Office of Workforce Development provides policy administration and programmatic oversight to the local workforce investment area. It was responsible for developing and supporting relationships and linkages with business and industry, training providers, and job seekers. The unit served as the grant recipient administrative entity for Workforce Investment Act funds and implements the policy and directives of the Workforce Investment Board.

The Mayor's Office Administration provided support (administrative and fiscal) to insure the efficient and effective operation of the Mayor's Office. The unit was responsible for scheduling, fiscal affairs, mail/records management, and personnel within the overall Office of the Mayor. The office managed the budget for the Mayor's Office as well as community initiatives, specifically, the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Aging and Tulane Scholarship Program.

The Office of Communications sought to improve the image of local government and increase public confidence in governmental policies through accurate and consistent messaging regarding services & operations, initiatives, and programs. It assisted in the accomplishment of the City's mission in several ways:

1. By developing long and short term media strategies to provide public awareness of government initiatives, policies, and programs
2. By planning and executing the promotion of City events and activities which generate the support of citizens, businesses, and community organizations
3. By enhancing the City's national image to increase opportunities for economic development, tourism, education, and federal funding
4. By effectively managing media coverage of City programs and operations to insure positive and consistent messages

Communications was formerly under the umbrella of the Division of Intergovernmental Relations; it was transferred to the Division of Federal & State Programs and Mayor’s Office Administration in 2000.

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Scope and Contents of the Records

The records include:

• Records of the Office of Federal & State Programs came to the Archives in two installments, the first in 2001 and the second with the larger transfer of records at the end of the Morial administration. The first group comprised materials mostly from the period 1994-1996 while the second accession included records from 1994 through the end of the administration's tenure in 2002. The two groups were inventoried as separate series. Both essentially comprise subject files arranged in alphabetical order by folder title. The first series also includes some correspondence (and memoranda) files.

• The records of the Mayor's Office Administration comprise file folders maintained for various programs, project, and issues that came to the attention of the Mayor and his staff during his two administrations. Much of the material is similar to the records in the Mayor's Office Correspondence and Subject Fies. Among areas of interest are gaming, casinos, and the development of the Harrah's Casino in New Orleans; development of the Jazzland amusement park in Eastern New Orleans; local and national politics (including the city's unsuccessful 1998 proposal for hosting the 2000 Democratic National Convention); the Regional Transit Authority; and the New Orleans Aviation Board/New Orleans International Airport.

• The Scheduling Records include scheduling requests (chronologically arranged), miscellaneous files (arranged alphabetically by folder title), subject files (arranged alphabetically by folder title), and travel files (arranged alphabetically by folder title, i.e., name of event to which travel was undertaken). The scheduling requests document the meetings, speaking engagements, public ceremonies, social events, and other activities that the Mayor or members of his staff were scheduled to attend. Included in the files are invitations, correspondence, telephone call notes, typed schedule sheets, and similar materials dealing with such activities. Generally each item is filed in the month in which the event took place, although in some cases items are filed in the month received. The records may be useful for several purposes. To a considerable extent they document the day-to-day activities of the Mayor. They also are useful in showing how the Mayor's staff managed access to him (i.e., who was important enough or had a compelling enough reason to get an appointment). On another level, the records also provide a "catalog" of the political, economic, cultural, and social events of the Morial years.

• The small series of records from the Office of Health Policy include files relating to grant programs administered by the agency and dealing with infant mortality, healthcare for the homeless, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse.

• The records of the Office of Communications include subject files, among which are Media Advisories, Press Briefings, Press Clippings, and Press Releases. Also included are video recordings made or collected by the Office. The latter are divided into two groups, one comprising standard-size VHS/BETA tapes and the other comprising larger format recordings. Each group is arranged in numerical order by tape numbers assigned by archives staff (the arrangement tends to also be alphabetical, but multiple "titles" on many tapes have the effect of obscuring that order). The recordings include tapes of Mayor Morial's two programs that aired on public and community access television: Building New Orleans Together and New Direction. The remaining tapes have diverse origins. Some are recordings made by Office of Communications staff (or contracted professionals) of City-sponsored events, press conferences, interviews of individuals (for use in the Mayor's television programs), etc. Others are tapes of programs or events either purchased from their producers/sponsors or recorded off the air. Some tapes appear to have been used, erased, and reused--and labels changed--one or more times. As a result, actual contents of several tapes may vary from what is listed in our inventory.

  NOTE!   The City Archives does not at this time have the equipment or facilities for viewing/dubbing videotape recordings. Researchers needing access to videotapes must follow the following guidelines:

  1. Complete a Release Form for the Reproduction of Materials from the New Orleans Public Library Special Collections and have it approved by the Archivist.
  2. Contract with a pre-approved vendor who will pick the tape up from the Archives, create a duplicate, and return the original item to the Archives.
  3. If the duplicate is in DVD format, a copy must be given to the Archives.
  4. Initial permission to duplicate a videotape is given for personal use or study only. Requests for permission to broadcast via television, the Internet, or other means will be handled on a tape-by-tape basis through discussion with the Archivist.

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Arrangement

These records are organized into sub-series as follows:

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