Sloan Awards for 6 Workers
Honor Those Who Give More

By REUVEN BLAU

When Joya Ramirez started working at a Juvenile Center in The Bronx 44 years ago, she thought it would be a temporary job.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'ALWAYS SMILING': Joya Ramirez has spent 44 years working as a Secretary to the Executive Director of Horizon Juvenile Center. She was honored March 12 along with five other civil servants with this year's Sloan Public Service Awards. 'It's such an incredible job. I get up every morning with a smile on my face,' she said.

"That didn't happen," she recalled March 12, shortly before being honored along with five other civil servants who received this year's Sloan Public Service Awards. "I felt no reason to leave. It was good to me."

Always 'Smiling'

Ms. Ramirez, who still works as a Secretary to the Executive Director of Horizon Juvenile Center, has served more than 20 supervisors. "I work for a fantastic organization and an incredible group of people," she told the audience at Cooper Union. "It's such an incredible job. I get up every morning with a smile on my face."

The second-generation Bronx resident said she's not considering retirement, despite her family's urging. "I enjoy my work; why would I leave?" she asked.

Much has changed, she pointed out, since she first started. During her first years at The Bridges Juvenile Center on Spofford Ave., the counselors gave one cigarette to each of the youths over 13 years old during their daily breaks. The policy, she recalled, was "really horrendous."

The Department of Juvenile Justice, which was created in 1978 after the New York State Legislature passed the Juvenile Offender Act, now offers more courses for troubled youths, she noted.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang FAMILY FIRST: Vito Mustaciuolo, the Associate Commissioner for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was lauded March 12 for his work improving the city's building enforcement division. On call 24/7, he thanked his family, saying they were the ones who deserved to be honored.

'More Classes'

"It became a little more secured, but with lots of programs," she said, noting that many of the youngsters lack guidance and instruction from home. "A lot of them are just left to their own devices. We can't just let them fall by the wayside."

The list of winners who were chosen from more than 250,000 city employees also included a senior health counselor who has designed programs and literature explaining complicated health benefits and a budget director who has devised new cost savings approaches.

The awards, which have been referred to as the Nobel Prizes of civil service, are given each spring by the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to recognize extraordinary work by career civil servants. Each winner receives a cash prize of $7,500.

Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler lauded the winners. "This is really the cream of the crop and it's really an honor to be on the stage with them," he said, after apologizing that Mayor Bloomberg was unable to attend.

Amy Bernstein was honored for her work at the Department for the Aging helping the city's 1.3 million seniors navigate complex programs offering them health insurance and other coverage. "They are a diverse group, but they all share the hope that their health will remain strong," she told the cheering crowd after she received her award.

'Desperate' for Help

As the Director of the Health Information Counseling and Assistance Program, she and her staff have set up 27 core counseling sites citywide. She has also designed an array of public education programs in multiple languages.

Ms. Bernstein and her staff have supervised and trained 60 volunteer counselors, who cover telephone hotlines, provide counseling, and make presentations throughout the city. The city's seniors, she said, are "eager if not desperate" to obtain information on a gamut of programs from Medicare to Medicaid, Medigap, Medicare Advantage, long-term care insurance, and pharmaceutical plans.

Vito Mustaciuolo, the Associate Commissioner for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was lauded for his work improving the city's building enforcement division.

Deputy Mayor Skyler noted that he is always comforted to hear that Mr. Mustaciuolo is handling things at the scene of an emergency, such as a building collapse. Mr. Mustaciuolo, who joined HPD in 1989, is involved at every level of housing operations and responsible for over 1,000 professional staff and clerical workers.

"I'm truly embarrassed," he said after receiving his award. "This really is a recognition of the thousands of city employees who work every day."

Family Award

On call 24/7, he thanked his family members, saying they were the ones who deserved to be cited. Working for the city, he added, is more than a regular job. "It's a commitment, not a job," he asserted.

Jill Woller, the Director of Technical Services for the Office of Management and Budget, was recognized for her work transforming Value Engineering, a complex part of the capital budget process.

During her 23-year career at OMB, she has devised protocols for evaluating the scope and cost-effectiveness of proposed capital projects of $30 million and over. Those large-scale projects include construction of streets, parks, and bridges.

Another honoree, Verone H. Kennedy, has worked for the Department of Education for the past 21 years. Shortly after its creation, he attended the Leadership Academy and later opened Middle School 584 in his native Crown Heights. Three years later, he was asked to be a Community Leadership Support Organizations network leader for 18 mostly at-risk schools in Brooklyn.

"Everything I do is motivated by my love for teaching children," he said. "I'm lucky to be alive and in a position to show the next generations what is possible, even if the road isn't easy."

The audience cheered as Lin Saberski was called up to receive her award. Ms. Saberski, a Deputy Commissioner for the Human Resources Administration, has worked at the agency's Adult Protective Services division, helping mentally ill individuals with housing and other basic needs.

Helping 'Own Reward'

"For me, helping others through my own work is its own reward," she said, as several audience members stood clapping.

Ms. Saberski oversees more than 450 Caseworkers, supervisors, and field office support workers. Those staffers, she noted, are often called into difficult situations with apartments filled with dirt and clutter or a menacing dog. "Like the Yellow Pages used to say, 'If it's out there, it's in here,''' she remarked.

Her successful pilot program for better pre-screening of cases expedited hospital discharges.

Ms. Bernstein concluded her acceptance speech by quoting Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, who said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."