Meet Verna Ferguson, Administrative Housing Superintendent, Emergency Services Department

June is National Pride Month, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising and recognizes the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people have made and continue to make on American history. In honor of Pride Month, we’re highlighting the work of NYCHA’s LGBTQ+ employees.  

Verna Ferguson joined NYCHA in 1985 through a youth training program. She worked her way up the ranks and is currently an Administrative Housing Superintendent in the Emergency Services Department.  

In this role, she is based out of Long Island City and works from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. responding to emergencies at NYCHA developments, such as flooding, water and electrical outages, fires, and more. She is one of NYCHA’s many essential employees, often in the field speaking with residents, taking photographs and documenting conditions, and updating executive staff on the work that has been completed to address an issue as well as the work that still needs to be done.   

“I love my job because it means knowing I helped somebody, that I made sure they were okay, letting residents know, ‘We’re here for you’ and reassuring them that their problem is going to be fixed,” Ms. Ferguson said. 

Ms. Ferguson is also a NYCHA Change Ambassador, who along with hundreds of other fellow employees, volunteers to are relied upon to share updates and news about the Authority’s Blueprint for Change Transformation Plan to their colleagues.   

Ms. Ferguson grew up in Tilden Houses in Brooklyn and came out as a young adult in 1986. She said that sometimes people judge her based on her appearance but “at NYCHA, it doesn’t matter who you are, we’re going to help all residents. And when I go visit residents, there’s no judgement; they want to come and talk to me. People ask how I get residents to open up to me and I say by being the same person all the time.”   

Ms. Ferguson looks forward to the Pride Parade and Pride Month events every year because she gets to be surrounded by the LGBTQ+ community and can truly express who she is without judgement. She has been attending Pride Month events since the 80s. With last year’s Pride events cancelled due to COVID-19, she is even more excited about this year’s celebrations. This year’s NYC Pride theme is “The Fight Continues,” reflecting the ways the LGBTQ+ community is still battling for rights at the federal level, dealing with the increasing murder rate of transgender people of color, and considering the intersection of other issues, including the pandemic. Ms. Ferguson said one important lesson she’s learned over the years is that “equality does not end the prejudices, but being treated equal is a right for all.”