Skip ACF banner and navigation
Department of Health and Human Services logo
Questions?  
Privacy  
Site Index  
Contact Us  
   Home   |   Services   |   Working with ACF   |   Policy/Planning   |   About ACF   |   ACF News Search  
Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
Photo of Chris Downing
Download photo
Chris Downing

Director, Office of Public Affairs

 

Mr. Downing serves as the Director of Public Affairs in the Office of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Downing is responsible for the media and public affairs strategy for the Administration for Children and Families. In this capacity, Mr. Downing coordinates all media activities for ACF headquarters and the 10 regional offices with respect to welfare reform, children’s health issues, refugee resettlement and Head Start to name a few.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Downing served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at HHS. ASPE is the office responsible for advising the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on policy development, and is responsible for major activities in the areas of policy coordination, legislation development, strategic planning, policy research and evaluation, and economic analysis.

From 1999 through 2002, Mr. Downing served as the Assistant Director for the Genesee Transportation Council, the Metropolitan Planning Organization serving much of Western New York, where he was responsible for all public outreach, media relations, and policy development.

From 1998 through 1999, Mr. Downing served as Press Secretary to U.S. Representative Jim McCrery (R-LA).

From 1996 through 1998, Mr. Downing served as Press Secretary to U.S. Representative Bill Paxon (R-NY).

From 1995 through 1996, Mr. Downing served as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht (R-MN).

Mr. Downing received his B.A. from the University of Dayton in 1992.

A native of Rochester, New York, Mr. Downing resides on Capitol Hill.

.