Celebrating Women’s History Month: Meet Kadijah Wilson, Administrative Community Relations Specialist 

Every March, we mark Women’s History Month by celebrating the contributions women have made throughout American history as well as the achievements women continue to make today. This year’s theme highlights “women who advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion,” and we recognize women in our community who, through their leadership and advocacy, are helping to create a NYCHA community that is more inclusive, equitable, and fair. 

For Kadijah Wilson, who has worked at NYCHA and served New Yorkers for four and a half decades, going to work each day is about more than just showing up. 

“I know this is a professional environment, but nonetheless my approach is always a familial one,” Ms. Wilson said, reflecting on how she has striven to form and strengthen bonds with co-workers as well as the residents she serves.  

“I treat people the way I want to be treated, and I treat them how I would treat family. So it’s more than just a professional concern for me.” 

Ms. Wilson is an Administrative Community Relations Specialist in the Bronx Resident Outreach for Conversion and Modernization Services (ROCMS) department, assisting developments through the PACT conversion process. She first came to NYCHA in 1976 as the Recreation Director of the Linden/Penn-Wortman Houses Community Center in East New York, Brooklyn.  The center’s afterschool programs included arts and crafts, tutorial sessions, a lunch program, dance classes, basketball and billiard tournaments, martial arts classes, a “math-letics” team, a debate team, a youth choir, a History and Culture Club, a Poets & Storytellers’ corner, and more.

While there, Ms. Wilson directed the choir, coached the “mathletes,” and taught the dance classes (tap, ballet, African, modern, and jazz). All of these groups travelled throughout New York City and the tri-state area in competitions, performances, and service. Each summer, the camp programs engaged in trips and activities that were both fun and educational.

“My work at the community center was my first NYCHA love,” Ms. Wilson recalled fondly. “I absolutely appreciate what I’m doing now, but my first love was working with the young population. To this day, I am still in touch with, and still see, some of ‘my kids’ who were children then and are now parents and even grandparents themselves. What a rewarding and soul-satisfying experience!” 

As a manager for the Bronx ROCMS, Ms. Wilson and her team are responsible for engaging with residents of developments involved in the PACT program to provide information and assist with the entire conversion process from beginning to end, addressing any concerns they might have.

This involves coordinating meetings where residents can learn about PACT as well as interfacing with residents, resident association leadership, Resident Review Committees, NYCHA Property Management, and the PACT partners. This sometimes means going above and beyond to assist: “Residents may hear the presentations and read the printouts, but our job is to ensure that they really understand the changes and improvements that the PACT conversion can provide.”

Ms. Wilson was on the team that facilitated NYCHA’s first PACT conversion at Ocean Bay (Bayside) in Queens. “I always say, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’, so here’s a shout-out to all of my supervisors, Bronx staff, citywide RSPI staff, NYCHA colleagues, and resident-family-friends.”

Ms. Wilson has also long been active in the NAACP, including the NYCHA branch. Not only has she served as an emcee for NYCHA’s NAACP Black History Month programs, she’s also been an honoree.  

Another organization Ms. Wilson cares deeply about (and which she has been involved with for over 40 years) is the Dyebanyani Initiated Women’s Society, which brings young girls into young womanhood through a Senegalese-based rites of passage process. These young ladies have gone on to become doctors, artists, lawyers, midwives, teachers, administrators, mentors – fostered by a renewed understanding of their power, purpose, and possibilities.  

“I’m a people person. That’s my forte. I shine the brightest when I get to interact with people, give them assistance, information, encouragement, or even a laugh or two; those things alone can transform lives,” Ms. Wilson noted.  

Ms. Wilson is delighted to serve her fellow New Yorkers, and she cites the connection she and her colleagues form with residents as the most meaningful aspect of her work at NYCHA. “I’d like to think I go beyond just the scope of what I do as a professional. I truly care about my residents, colleagues, and staff. After all, we’re all people with real lives and all of the challenges and joys that come with being human. Despite your professional ability and obligation to do so, I believe you can’t really serve the people if you don’t love the people.”