Yvette Puckett Cravins

Prior to serving as Chief of Staff for Congressman Clay, Yvette served for five years as Counsel on the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee under Chairmen Ed Towns and Elijah E. Cummings, and seven years as Chief of Staff to the Hon. William Lacy Clay. Yvette Puckett Cravins brings key Congressional relationships and a unique blend of strategic thinking, coalition building and legislative acumen to the team.

Chief of Staff experience includes:

• Liaised with HUD, Senate counterparts, stakeholders and St. Louis County officials to ensure Member’s vision to reimagine public housing in the St. Louis area. Member‘s efforts were successful in 2020 culminating in increased access to vouchers for residents and additional waivers to repair substandard housing.
• Assisted in negotiations with Pentagon officials in Member’s successful effort to disallow the use of military grade weaponry in civilian crowd control in Missouri. Member’s efforts were the impetus for Presidential Executive Order 13688 signed by President Obama in January 2015 which provided a moratorium on surplus military weaponry distribution to local police force.
• Assisted Member’s fruitful effort to engage the Department of Justice in conducting a Patterns and Practice Investigation into local law enforcement actions and abuses in Ferguson, Mo. The 2016 result was a broad-reaching consent decree resolving municipal charges, reorienting community policing, and ensuring protections of constitutional and legal rights of all members of the community.
• Coordinated Member’s groundbreaking federal coalition effort to ensure the $1.75B expansion of the National Geospatial Agency’s large-scale new intelligence facility was awarded to St. Louis in 2017. The project is the largest NGA headquarters outside of Washington, DC. The project allows St. Louis to take the lead in the geospatial sector and secures over 3,700 high-paying jobs.
• Served as the primary liaison to the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Set policies and procedures for the four offices. Served as chief policy advisor on legislation. Supervised the Member’s proactive agenda of increasing home ownership, increasing opportunities for affordable housing and reducing discrimination in the mortgage industry.
• Served as the primary liaison to the House Financial Services Committee Senior Staff. Worked to develop, implement and examine financial service tools in underserved communities, increasing housing, community development, and insurance reform.

Counsel at the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee experience includes:

• Conducting investigations into federal agencies, personnel, and the private sector examining possible criminal activity, fraud, waste, abuse and/or mismanagement.
• Vetting witnesses, reviewing document production. Coordinated hearing message and talking points.
• Coordinating with advocacy groups and solicited testimony for the record from supporting constituencies.
• Investigating illegal military foreclosures and other financial services abuses against U.S. service members and their families.
• Directing Congressional review of the Office of National Drug Control Policy budget, policy and mission.
• Investigated the utility of limiting the sale of certain over the counter medications in the fight against illicit drug use.

As Counsel for the Oversight Subcommittee on Health, Yvette achieved the following:

• Led oversight hearings relative to aspects of the Affordable Care Act implementation including the interpretation and practical application of regulatory language coverage issues and impact.
• Aided investigation into Affordable Care Act contractors specifically related to online enrollment security, accountability and transparency.
• Conducted bipartisan oversight investigation into the practices of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and specific operations within Texas and New York state.
• Managed oversight hearing examining waste, abuse and mismanagement in Government Healthcare, and the use of Suspension and Debarment practices.

As Counsel for the Census Subcommittee, Yvette performed the following activities:

• Served as a liaison to Members of the Congressional Black Caucus to provide oversight and ensure representative coverage in the Census Bureau’s 2010, 2020 television media campaign in minority-majority communities.
• Provided oversight of the Census Bureau’s level of reliance on automation and technology for the 2010 Census, at an estimated cost of $3 billion, ensuring effective contractor oversight (of cost, schedule and technical performance) and risk management activities.
• Provided evaluation, oversight and risk management of IT systems, specifically within the Census Bureau—including insider threats from witting or unwitting employees, escalating and emerging threats from around the globe, and the emergence of new and more destructive attacks.
• Led Committee hearing addressing the digital divide and its effect on counting vulnerable and hard to count populations in the U.S. Census.
• Provided oversight of the plan for an accurate Census in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast Region, in recognition of the additional challenges of the changing housing stock and connectivity issues for the address canvassing operation and subsequent operations.

• Associations
  • U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.’s (USBC) 2025 Power 50 Women of Influence Class
  • Member, African American Leadership Finance Council, Biden Victory Fund
  • Member, Louisiana State Bar Association
  • Member, St. Pius X Catholic Church, Bowie MD
  • Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
  • Black Women’s Congressional Alliance