Meet Javerea Komal, Project Manager in the Rapid Response Unit

Javerea Komal, Project Manager for the Office of the Vice President of Operational Analysis & Contract Management Department, is proud to work at NYCHA – she learned the importance of affordable housing as a child when she moved to the Bronx from Pakistan; having an apartment they could afford in a new country was vital to her family and other immigrants in her community. 

She was 10 when her parents and three siblings moved to a one-bedroom apartment in the Parkchester area of the Bronx, where much of her mother’s family lived. Moving to a new country was hard, but she felt like she already knew the community.  

“We were four siblings living in one bedroom,” Ms. Komal said. “My parents struggled with housing; my dad talked about moving out of New York, but not having the same job opportunities deterred him. You see other cities moving away from affordable housing, like Boston and L.A., and our city is the only one that is preserving it as large as it is. At the end of the day, no matter what type of work you’re doing at NYCHA, you’re helping to provide 400,000 people with housing, and you feel like you’re making a difference.” 

Being part of the Parkchester Pakistani/Bengali community was beneficial in many ways, including being able to speak the familiar language of home in her neighborhood while learning a new language and the opportunity to celebrate Muslim holidays together. For instance, when celebrating Ramadan as a child in the U.S., “we had to sit in the public school cafeteria and watch other kids eat,” but in the neighborhood the mosque was the hub that brought everyone together for the holiday. 

Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims and includes fasting from sunrise to sunset, prayer, and reflection. This year, Ramadan is April 2 through May 2. Ms. Komal said fasting at work can be difficult, but being able to book a private room to do her five daytime prayers is helpful. “The biggest challenge is having enough energy,” she noted. “No liquids or foods from sunrise to sunset, and I don’t have my coffee.” But Ramadan is also a great time because “the whole family is eating together, breaking the fast together. My mom overcompensates for the fact that we didn’t eat by making special dishes throughout the month so no one’s losing any weight.” 

As a project manager in the Rapid Response Unit of the Operational Analysis & Contract Management Department, Ms. Komal primarily oversees lead dust wipe requests (to help determine if there are elevated levels of lead in dust) and works with the team on tracking and processing. The Rapid Response Unit oversees the TEMPO program (Team for Enhanced Management, Planning, and Outreach), which expedites lead abatement in NYCHA apartments where there is known or presumed lead-based paint and where a child under the age of 6 lives or visits regularly.  

She began her NYCHA career in 2015 as a consultant in the Sandy Recovery & Resiliency program and was hired permanently in 2019 to work on the Mold Busters program. 

“I enjoy working at NYCHA,” Ms. Komal said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity and the people that have mentored me in Recovery & Resiliency and Healthy Homes. I’ve always had bosses that encouraged my growth, and that’s why I was able to do so well in the positions I was in. If you put that energy out there of wanting to do better, people pick up on it and they help you.” 

Ms. Komal is also a NYCHA Change Ambassador. For two years she’s volunteered in the role, attending monthly meetings to learn about the progress of implementing NYCHA’s Transformation Plan, and then helping to disseminate those details to her colleagues. “We get the info directly and are able to dispel rumors; for instance, if people are saying that NYCHA is privatizing, we’ve gotten the info straight from the Real Estate Department and can counter the rumors with facts.”