The local recipient of the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award for 2000 is Henry Colonna, a Chesapeake resident and a 20+ year employee of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Richmond. He is the first HUD employee to receive this honor.

In presenting the award at a ceremony in Richmond, Charles L. Owens, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Norfolk Office at the time, cited Colonna's exemplary impact on the community because of his strong commitment to encourage young people in Hampton Roads to be productive citizens. "The FBI has worked with Henry Colonna for more than five years and we probably could have given him an award each of those years," said (former) SAC Owens. "The role he has played goes well beyond any job description and demonstrates a very real personal drive and commitment to improving the lives of those who live in Hampton Roads communities."

"Henry is one of those countless public servants who work a long, hard day at the office and then a long, hard evening or weekend volunteering in the community," said Mary Ann Wilson, HUD's Virginia State Coordinator. "We thank the FBI for recognizing his many contributions and, further, thank the FBI for being such a strong and active partner in the lives and futures of Virginia's communities."

Most of Colonna's career at HUD has been in the division responsible for encouraging the production of affordable rental housing. During his tenure, he has been one of the principal architects of HUD's Neighborhood Networks initiative which has sparked the opening of more than 1,000 computer learning centers in HUD-assisted and insured rental complexes across the country. With financial, logistical and technical support from hundreds of private sector partners, HUD's Neighborhood Networks centers provide children and adults living with the opportunity to become computer literate. In 1999, the Neighborhood Networks Center in Virginia Beach won a National Best Practices award from HUD.

Colonna also has been instrumental in HUD's development of the Safe Neighborhood Action Plan program which has helped promote collaboration among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in combating criminal activity in and around housing complexes that receive HUD funding. Outside of HUD, for the past five years Colonna has been involved in the "Race Against Drugs" and the "Kids Fundango Festival" annually held events in the Tidewater area.

Prior to joining HUD, Colonna was a mortgage banker, and a financial coordinator at the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.