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NYCHA Now
Exceptional Colleagues Highlighted October 2025 

NYCHA Launches “Customer Service Superhero” Course: Saving the Day, One Customer at a Time

Joshua Olesker

When you work for the nation’s largest public housing authority, and it’s your job to serve nearly half a million New Yorkers, it’s perhaps not surprising to find yourself wishing for superpowers. More hours in the day, an extra set of hands, the ability to clone yourself — anything and everything possible to keep up with the needs of residents, colleagues, and the sheer scale of the Authority’s operations.

That’s exactly the spirit that animates NYCHA’s brand-new Customer Service Superhero course. With the playful subtitle Saving the Day, One Customer at a Time — Cape Not Needed!, this new program is the latest in an agency-wide initiative to transform how customer service is delivered and experienced across the Authority.

From “Exceptional” to “Superhero”

Customer service has always been central to NYCHA’s mission. An earlier training, Exceptional Customer Service, laid the groundwork. But as Yvonne Jones, Administrator of the Leadership and Professional Development Unit in Learning and Development, explained: This moment calls for something bolder.

“Everybody at NYCHA knows we are service providers, and customer service is at the heart of everything we do,” she said. “But as demand increases, as our infrastructure ages, and as resources remain tight, it can feel like you need superpowers to meet the need. That’s where our superhero theme was born.”

The newly updated course not only strengthens one’s practical customer service skills but also introduces techniques for the management and de-escalation of potential friction— ensuring staff are better prepared to handle challenging interactions gracefully, before they turn into conflict.

The course’s emphasis is not just on solving problems but also on leaving residents and colleagues
with the lasting knowledge that NYCHA truly cares, understands, and is working for them.

What the Course Delivers

Customer Service Superhero is a one-day, interactive training that equips participants with tools to:

  • See every interaction through the lens of the customer (“step into their shoes”).
  • Practice de-escalation techniques to prevent aggravation and build trust with clients.
  • Deliver memorable — and importantly, memorably positive — service experiences, whether or not the immediate question or issue has been resolved.
  • “Leap challenges in a single bound” and “exceed expectations with every interaction,” as the course materials put it.

The course’s emphasis, Ms. Jones said, is not just on solving problems but also on leaving residents and colleagues with the lasting knowledge that NYCHA truly cares, understands, and is working for them.

Building a League of Learning Leaders

Rolling out a course like this to more than 10,000 employees can itself be seen as a heroic undertaking. To meet the challenge, NYCHA’s Learning and Development team is first enlisting a cohort of Learning Leaders — NYCHA staff members who will train to facilitate the “Superhero” course in pairs, one day each month, alongside their regular jobs.

“We’re asking our Learning Leaders to commit to teaching once a month, so they can balance this opportunity with their day-to-day responsibilities,” Ms. Jones said. “It’s an awesome opportunity for them to stretch their career development, meet colleagues they might not otherwise cross paths with, and contribute to the agency’s culture.”

The first step is for Learning Leaders to take the course as participants, followed by two days of “train-the-trainer” sessions. Ultimately, 48 Learning Leaders will form 24 teaching pairs, fanning out across training sites in Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Lower Manhattan.

Looking Ahead: Chapter One of a Larger Story

“This is an agency-wide initiative,” Ms. Jones emphasized. “From executives to front-line staff, everyone will take it. We want every employee to see themselves as capable of delivering superhero-level service.This is really only Chapter One. As it unfolds, we’ll have the chance to tell the stories of employees who’ve taken the course and how it’s changed their approach. That’s when the real magic will shine through.”

For now, the message is simple — NYCHA staff won’t need capes to make a difference.