Ana Pereira, 72, Founded Agency To House Needy
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Ana Pereira, who died Sunday at 72, was the founder and executive director of Heritage Housing and Community Services, a private organization that serves over 650 ill, addicted, and otherwise incapacitated clients, in Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and the Bronx.
A well-known figure in New York community action circles, she was recently feted at Tavern on the Green by Mayor Dinkins and actress Ruby Dee.
Pereira coordinated the development of five completed residences for special needs tenants during her 28 years at HHCS, including Jasmine Court, a 115-unit facility on 138th Street and Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx. Opened in 2003, the $12 million complex includes a working restaurant used both to feed tenants and to train them in food service jobs.
Another residential facility is currently under construction, and two more are planned. The agency has a staff of 165 and an annual budget of $10 million.
Pereira, of Puerto Rican heritage, grew up in New York. A graduate of the New York University School of Social Work, she worked at the New York City Housing Authority beginning in 1959. From 1969-1970, she was director for senior advocacy. Later, she was put in charge of providing community services at 35 housing developments around the city.
In 1978, Pereira founded HHCS in a Harlem storefront. The agency moved into new offices on 127th Street in 2001.The unusual single-story building, whose construction Pereira typically oversaw with great interest, combines modernism and Caribbean elements.
Speaking on the facility’s first anniversary, Pereira said that architects had initially planned for “muted colors, dark green and dark reds.” She rejected these, saying, “Get out of here! This is Harlem! This is a place for people with special needs. We want it to look bright.”
Ana Pereira
Born April 14, 1933, in New York; died suddenly October 30 in Detroit while waiting for a connecting flight to New York, en route from Canada; survived by her brother, Pedro Pereira Jr., sister Esther Pereira Mitchell, stepdaughter Kari Sigerson-Kaufman, and a step granddaughter.
