‘Anyone here from HUD?': Mayor Parker recruiting Biden administration officials for Philly

As the Biden-Harris administration comes to a close, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker visited Washington D.C. on Friday, Jan. 10 to make a sales pitch.

“I am extremely biased,” Mayor Parker told a group gathered at the office of Holland and Knight. “I love people who love stretching policy, stretching government, developing solutions to seemingly intractable problems.”

The city is looking to fill more than 100 positions including in law, housing and other departments aiming to tap into a pool of professionals who could be looking for new positions as the Biden Administration ends and the Trump Administration brings on its own employees.

In an exclusive interview with NBC10 in Washington, Parker said she got the idea for the recruiting event after meeting with a transportation official.

“He shared with us ‘hey there are some other states who are having meetings recruitment meetings here in DC from some of the exiting department leaders,’” Parker said. “A lightbulb went off.” 

Parker and senior officials including her chief of staff, chief administrative officer and a deputy mayor who previously worked in the Biden administration made the trip to the nation’s capitol on Friday, mingling with potential recruits at a networking event where Parker later addressed the group. 

During that address, the mayor said the Biden-Harris administration had sent more than $1 billion to Philadelphia in the past year and she’s looking for people who can help the city access resources. 

“I want people who actually worked in those departments who helped to develop some of the programs where we’re trying to access revenue streams and help Philadelphia put together the best proposals, who’ve developed great relationships and quite frankly have the institutional knowledge that can help us move the city of Philadelphia forward,” Parker said.

Asked how her administration is preparing for the incoming Trump administration, Parker pointed to her experience as a state lawmaker during a period with a Republican governor and legislature. 

“That was the greatest professional development I could have ever had, it has prepared me to meet this moment,” she said.

During the Biden administration, Parker said she met with Biden in the Oval Office. Asked whether she’d do the same with President-elect Trump, Parker said: “If I don’t do the same thing with President Trump the people of the city of Philadelphia should say ‘You shouldn’t be our mayor.’”