‘Ambassadors’ Join Employee Network to Support Change at NYCHA

A force of hundreds of staff from across the Authority is now working with their colleagues to share news about the organization’s plan for the future and help ensure that various issues are resolved for the NYCHA community.   

Known as Change Ambassadors, these employees have committed to a voluntary role to support the Change Network under NYCHA’s Transformation Plan. As NYCHA implements its Blueprint for Change Transformation Plan, which seeks to improve how the Authority delivers services to residents, the Change Ambassadors will be relied upon to bring up-to-date news about the effort to their colleagues.  

They will help support change at NYCHA by sharing feedback from their colleagues, meeting with employees from other departments to learn about their work and better understand issues impacting the organization, and helping to address various concerns at their work locations. 

“These next couple of months and maybe years will be very important to NYCHA’s structure and the way we look as an organization,” NYCHA’s Director of Employee Engagement Yvette Andino told Ambassadors at an introductory meeting earlier this month. “You all will play a very important role in helping us do the change at NYCHA and make the change possible, and also in really filtering down the information to your fellow colleagues.” 

More than 200 candidates representing a wide spectrum of NYCHA departments – from heating technicians to auditors – answered the call to join the Authority’s Change Network. The employees boast a range of work experience at NYCHA and an average tenure of 13 years.  

In forming the new Ambassadors initiative, NYCHA aims to focus on more employee engagement and empowering staff with the skills to do their jobs better as well as to provide the opportunity for growth, Ms. Andino said. Communication and transparency will be critical issues to ensuring the success of the program, she noted.  

“We are looking for you to be the eyes and ears on the ground to share information with us on what works and what doesn’t,” she told the volunteers.  

NYCHA Chair Greg Russ said there will be some challenges, as the organization is entering “new territory” with the Change Network, but he believes the program will make a difference in the end.  

“If we believe in ourselves as messengers here, over time we’ll get it down, and over time the ability to get information from all of you to the rest of the organization is going to be profoundly important,” Chair Russ said.  

Echoing the Ambassadors’ critical role, NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo thanked the candidates for answering the call to action and said they are the “staff’s representatives.” 

“You are there to deliver messages to your peers and to bring back information to us so that we can make better and more informed decisions,” Mr. Mustaciuolo said. “For you to take the time out of your days to work on this with us, to be the Ambassadors for change, it means a lot and speaks volumes to who you are and what we can accomplish.” 

For some Ambassador participants, having the chance to meet with NYCHA colleagues and communicate information that can help improve the organization was reason enough to take on the voluntary Change Network position.    

“I feel there was a great opportunity to express concerns for my department, as well as give input on things that can possibly be changed,” said Catherine Castano, a customer information representative.  

Jacquelyn Jacques, who has served as a housing assistant for six years, said that the Change Ambassadors can help address issues with communication by trying to correct any misinformation for co-workers. She hopes to provide feedback from colleagues in the field, and believes her experience at NYCHA will be an asset as an advocate for change.    

“Based on my experience in working at two developments, I can give some insight as to some changes that need to be done,” she said.  

The Ambassadors are initially scheduled to attend virtual meetings with the team every month. Trish Ceccarelli, a consultant on the Transformation Plan, said NYCHA hopes to conduct an all-staff survey about the plan in January and will be looking to the Ambassadors to help get the word out.  

NYCHA employees are encouraged to seek out the Change Ambassadors representing their development and/or department for ongoing support in the effort to transform NYCHA. For more information, send an email to employee.engagement@nycha.nyc.gov.