“I’ve always wanted to change the world,” says Sally Dunford, sitting inside a cubicle less than seven hours before capping 28 years as executive director of West Bronx Housing.

It’s Jan. 7, and for Dunford—wearing a maroon shirt, black pants, and white shoes– it’s retirement day, a moment she never thought would come, capping a lifetime of housing advocacy that’s kept thousands of Bronx residents in their homes while also empowering them to reclaim their quality of life against unscrupulous landlords. Making her indispensable over the years was her encyclopedic know-how of the daunting housing system, which over the years, she notes, has improved for the sake of tenants.

Operating at a storefront office at 220 E. 204th St. in Bedford Park, West Bronx Housing typically sees an estimated 1200 clients a year. A subsidiary group for the Bronx Jewish Community Council, West Bronx Housing has been a force for Norwood and Bedford Park, home to large swaths of rent-stabilized apartments and the highest eviction rates in the Bronx. It’s also in Norwood that Dunford has called home for 40 years, bearing witness to its demographic changes. “The color of the faces has changed, the language has changed, the religions have changed, but what people want hasn’t changed,” she says.

A large rent-stabilized portfolio in her primary neighborhoods has kept Dunford busy over the years. That and some city/state policies that have inconvenienced renters, particularly during the tenures of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Governor George Pataki, raising Dunford’s ire.

Dunford is the first to point out her office isn’t a firm that assumes to singlehandedly fix the issues of residents, be it repairs, obtaining SCRIE, or what to expect during an eviction proceeding. Her function has been that of a coach, guiding residents toward self-sufficiency. “I’ve always been attracted to the idea that you can empower people. It’s a kind of stale word. That by giving people the tools, get them to a place where people can take over and run their lives. And once people learn how to do it on one level they can do it on a whole lot of levels,” says Dunford. “You can take somebody that’s never had any faith in themselves and give them the tools and the strength to take off. It’s like watching a bird get wings. Just fabulous.”

The oldest of eight children, Dunford was born in Yonkers, NY, briefly living in Norwood before settling in East Greenbush, a small suburb just outside Albany. After attending Fordham University, she found herself living back in Norwood.

Growing up, Dunford would constantly fight for a cause, be it a political campaign at age 14, or later finding herself on the front lines of demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War.

By the 1970s, as the Bronx began to burn, Dunford became organized on housing matters. While raising her boys, Dunford met Bertha Keller and Ann Devenney, two volunteer activist members from Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, where she also volunteered. “They both got great results so I learned from them,” says Dunford of the pair.

In some ways, Dunford modeled her approach after the pair, noticing that the need for righteous indignation should be unleashed once a landlord ignored Dunford’s request for rectitude on behalf of tenants. “You have to know when to play hard ball,” said Dunford. “One of the mistakes that young organizers make frequently is to confuse tactics with strategy.”

Dunford had to apply such a tactic for a personal matter around 1989, when a fire tore through her home on East 208th Street and Bainbridge Avenue, making her unit temporarily unlivable for her and her family.

The landlord, however, made life hell for her family. “The landlord was very slow to get moving in terms of making repairs, and I started organizing to get things moving and he proceeded to tell me I was gonna be the last person repaired because I was a troublemaker,” recalls Dunford.

In the end, Dunford sued. And she won, winning triple damages. “We learned that what doesn’t kill you does make you stronger,” said Dunford, who also “learned the value of community” through generous neighbors.

Eventually, her housing advocacy work led to a part-time position with West Bronx Housing. She also worked full time under the administration of former Mayor David Dinkins, serving as director of the office’s “Stop the Violence” Program, until Giuliani terminated it.

In the years since serving as executive director—a role where she succeeded Steve Seltzer—Dunford has noticed the tide turn for renters, more so last year when then state updated its rent laws and the city implemented Right to Counsel, the city pilot program offering free attorneys to tenants facing eviction.

Finding a singular accomplishment to cap all those years is impossible for Dunford. As she ponders that, the office doorbell rings. Lifelong Norwood residents Ronnie Ruggiero and his friend Ann Canavatchel walk into the door, hearing about Dunford’s retirement.

“I was going to cry,” says Ruggiero upon hearing of her retirement. “She did so much for me.”

Retirement had been on the horizon for Dunford for quite some time. But she wasn’t going to leave West Bronx Housing in the lurch. For the last three months she’s helped prepare for a transition with her successor, Joshua Stephenson, formerly a constituent services

employee for Councilman Andrew Cohen. Dunford describes Stephenson as “a dynamo.”

Four days after officially retiring, Dunford is given an intimate sendoff at Vladeck Hall, located in Van Cortlandt Village, surrounded by family, friends, and elected officials who honored her with various proclamations and citations. Being the center of attention was an unusual moment for Dunford, who’s used to working behind the scenes. Brad Silver, executive vice president of West Bronx Housing recalls that recognition was never anything Dunford sought.

“Sally also has had a rather large impact on the community and the borough and, in some cases the city, but you haven’t heard about it. You haven’t heard about it because in order to be effective sometimes it’s better not to be standing and shouting from the rooftops or spreading your name through the media. So it’s about the work,” says Silver.

Dunford is slated to move to Maryland to be with her family, a new chapter as it’s the first in decades where she’ll be leaving Norwood.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.