Cristina Cuomo: How did your career as a public advocate begin?
on developing specialized services with an emphasis on employment and job training.
Maria Cuomo Cole: My involvement began when Andrew started HELP in 1986 and I wanted to tell the story of the constituents he was serving. He was creating a new system to address the needs of homeless families. The model was to build new construction which the city would ultimately own—clean attractive safe housing for 25 percent less than what is was costing the city to pay welfare hotel landlords to warehouse homeless families. Mayor Koch agreed to give Andrew a try and gave him some land in East New York, Brooklyn. I developed an awareness campaign with the brilliant photographer Mary Ellen Mark which resulted in a book featuring men and women and children residing at Andrew’s NYC shelters and their personal stories. That served as a catalyst to document and share HELP’s residents’ stories. Their stories were important to convey to the public why whole families were becoming homeless. This collective campaign resulted in increased attention by policy makers and change in Washington and on the state and city level.
CC: How did you share the HELP model with other cities outside of New York?
CC: Why was homelessness becoming such a big issue? MCC: In the late 1980s it was at an all time high. It was a time when cities across the country were faced with a barrage of serious and difficult issues such as declining economy, high unemployment, high use of crack, criminality and AIDS. CC: Why did you decide to take over as Chairman of HELP USA when Andrew went to Washington? MCC: When Andrew was asked to join President Clinton’s administration as an under secretary at HUD in 1992, I had two small children and was preparing to leave the marketing firm I was working with to pursue documentary filmmaking. He asked me to help him with the transition at HELP immediately. The organization was operating the family shelters that Andrew had created in NYC, Suffolk and Westchester. CC: What did you do to take the organization to another level? MCC: When I stepped in the organization was burgeoning. It was at a transition. The pioneering system Andrew created of caring for homeless families with quality transitional housing by this time had become a best practice system throughout New York State. However, services needed to be expanded. In addition, permanent housing was in tremendous demand. We concentrated
MCC: Besides developing more permanent housing in New York, the natural direction for HELP’s growth was national expansion. The first community we ventured out to was Philadelphia in 1994. We developed a beautiful complex of both family transitional apartments and permanent, town-house style homes. We wanted to do something in the West and during a business trip with Kenneth, I met the Mayor of Las Vegas, Jan Jones, and her leadership team. The city was trying to address the increased number of chronically homeless individuals living on the streets at a time when the strip was booming and plans for revitalizing the downtown area were underway. CC: How many cities are you in today? MCC: Today we have 31 residences in seven states and multiple cities. And in East New York Brooklyn where Andrew opened HELP 1 transitional family shelter, we’ve developed several hundred more units of housing and a residence for homeless veterans which has just opened. CC: You work closely with your mother and the Mentoring USA program she implemented when she was first lady. MCC: My mother’s youth mentoring program came under the umbrella of HELP youth services in 1994. It too has grown to become a vibrant national program in cities across the country and in five countries. My mother continues to be very involved with the program—there is no slowing her down! Just recently, she released a third edition of The Person Who Changed My Life, a compilation of personal stories about mentorship by renowned personalities like President Clinton, who will be honored at the HELP Tribute Awards Dinner benefit on June 5th at the Waldorf Astoria. This will be a memorable event as we will also be honoring my parents too, and it is the date of their 59th wedding anniversary! CC: What compelled you to make a film about gun violence with Living for 32? MCC: Through my experience with HELP and the D.C. based nonprofit organization, the Brady Campaign to end gun violence, I felt strongly that the personal stories of victims and family members of victims needed to be shared with the American public. Although New York has strong
Clothes, shoes and bag, Kenneth Cole. Rose quartz and crystal earrings and gold and diamond woven cuff, Christina Addison Jewelry Designs. christinaaddison.com. Necklace, noir Jewelry. noirjewelry.com
52 | AVENUE MAGAZINE • APRIL 2012