Senior Leadership Meeting Features NY1 Anchor Errol Lewis
The final Senior Leadership Meeting of 2015 held on December 8 was designed to provide managers with a key competency to meet NextGeneration NYCHA’s challenging goals: collaborative leadership. The training—previously suggested by the managers—included group exercises on planning effective meetings, stakeholder analysis, and task delegation. “The possibilities for how you can creatively apply these tools…are endless,” Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye told the managers in opening remarks, “and I am excited to see what you will do with them.”
The training by representatives from Community Resource Exchange was preceded by detailed updates by lead managers of 10 Next- Gen projects; a report by General Manager Michael Kelly on key performance indicators; and a presentation by Executive Vice President for Community Programs and Development Melanie Hart on CP&D’s new mission and resident engagement strategy. The lively training sessions were followed by a briefing from Vice President for Development Nicole Ferreira on NYCHA’s NextGen real estate development strategy.
Chair Olatoye identified a number of areas where significant progress has been made since launching NextGen NYCHA in May. These included: increased transparency on NYCHA’s website, the launching of the MyNYCHA app, selection of an energy service company to manage energy performance contracts for 80 developments, selection of a developer for the 100-percent affordable housing at three developments, roof replacements on 116 buildings with more on the way, the launching of the Fund for Public Housing, and the success of the Food Business Pathways program, which graduated its third class of food entrepreneurs.
“But of course we’ve only just begun the work we’ve set out to do,” Chair Olatoye noted, “and we’ve got a long road ahead of us.”
A Character Witness for Public Housing
The full-day meeting concluded with a candid guest interview by Chair Olatoye with Errol Louis, political anchor at NY1 and host of “Inside City Hall.” Raised in Manhattanville Houses and a staunch advocate of public housing, Mr. Louis said that “the negative stereotypes about residents are different from [his] memories.” Notwithstanding drug-related problems during the mid-’60s, “there was still a sense of community. As a kid, I thought it was the greatest place in the world.”
Citing famous alumni of public housing, such as Reverend Al Sharpton, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Mr. Louis said the biggest untold story about NYCHA is its residents. “If you don’t know anybody personally who lives there, all you know is from the media reports,” he said. “Public housing needs a character witness.”
Recalling his own opportunities through Manhattanville Houses, the Head Start program, and affirmative action, Mr. Louis said, “I’m happy to write a check [for tax] in April.”
During the audience Q&A, Mr. Louis remarked, “I would love to see attitudes about public housing change, and I would like to help.”
