The Chairman for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), John Rhea is a man to be respected for his upstanding efforts to improve NYCHA’s communities. He has worked in the private sector for over twenty years, his experience ranging from companies like JP Morgan Chase to Barclays Capital. Now the head of the public housing authority, Rhea’s support for a variety of causes has come into clear focus.
He’s been a board member and trustee of several arts, education, and cultural programs, and is the founder and director for the Council for Urban Professionals (CUP), a social venture organization that supports minority entrepreneurs.
Rhea supports education on a variety of fronts, encouraging individuals to get involved in programs such as the NFL Officiating academy. This program, made possible through John Rhea and NYCHA, offers adults the opportunity to gain valuable life skills as well as train to become NFL officials as a potential career.
But what we really love about John Rhea is that he understands and supports the equal treatment of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. He’s and his employees participated in and supported training sessions that covered the equal access policies for LGBT people implemented by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in New York. The training sessions were part of the HUD’s first LGBT Summit in NYC.
Under Rhea’s leadership, NYCHA is proudly supporting its LGBT residents by providing equal access to housing, recognizing that it is not ever okay to discriminate against someone based on race color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, familial status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.