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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 015-06
January 10, 2006

MAYOR BLOOMBERG APPOINTS LINDA GIBBS AS DEPUTY MAYOR FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed Linda I. Gibbs as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.  In this position, she will oversee the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Human Resources Administration, Administration for Children’s Services, Department of Homeless Services, Department for the Aging, Health and Hospitals Corporation, Department of Correction, Department of Probation, Department of Juvenile Justice, Office of Health Insurance Access, and the HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council.  Gibbs is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS). 

“Linda Gibbs is the ideal person to oversee our City’s health and human service agencies,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “As competent as she is compassionate, she knows how to best help those in need, especially the most vulnerable among us. I know this talented public servant will do a superb job at bringing fresh approaches to some of our most complicated challenges.”

“It is an honor to have this opportunity to work with the Mayor, and his extraordinarily talented health and human services commissioners,” Gibbs said. “Bringing innovation and accountability to support those most in need has been a hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg’s administration.  I am eager to work with the Mayor to further this effort and make demonstrable improvements in the lives of the neediest New Yorkers.”

During her tenure, DHS embarked on aggressive strategies to shift the City’s response to those with housing crises from shelter to prevention, rental assistance, and housing. Commissioner Gibbs brokered a settlement with legal advocates which gave DHS its first respite from active litigation in a generation and during which time the agency reformed the family intake center and helped record numbers of homeless families achieve permanent housing.
She also served as the chief administrator of the Mayor’s ambitious strategy to end chronic homelessness.

During the Giuliani Administration, Commissioner Gibbs served as the Deputy Commissioner for Management and Planning for the Administration for Children’s Services. With then ACS Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, Commissioner Gibbs worked on successful strategies to implement fundamental reform of a deeply troubled agency, to one which achieved historic reductions in the foster care caseload and helped to develop what would become a national model for neighborhood-based service delivery to at-risk children and families.

Since her graduation from SUNY Buffalo School of Law in 1985, Commissioner Gibbs has served in various positions in New York City’s government. She was a staff attorney at the Charter Revision Commission that dissolved the Board of Estimate and put in place sweeping changes in the structure of City government.  Her responsibilities there included revisions to the City’s budget, procurement, and ethics laws. She has also served in the New York City Council as Special Advisor to the Director of the Finance Division and at the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget as Deputy Director for Social Services.

Linda and her husband, Thomas McMahon, live in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn with their two children, Ryann and Leo.







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