Senate President Malcolm A. Smith Honors Rockaway Resident As Person Of The Month

Denean Ferguson is a twenty-year resident of Far Rockaway.

(New York, NY)-  Senate President Malcolm A. Smith honored Far Rockaway resident, Denean Ferguson as his first ‘Person of the Month’ for 2010.

“I think it’s important and necessary to recognize the constituents of my district that are volunteering of their time and giving of themselves to make the community a better place to live. Every month I will choose a different person to honor. I thought it only fitting that I honor Denean because she is extremely dedicated to making Far Rockaway a better place to live and work.,” said Senator Smith.

Denean Ferguson is a twenty-year resident of Far Rockaway.  Her quest for God, 22 years ago, caused her to leave Long Island, become a member of the Arverne Church of God and make her home on the Rockaway peninsula.

Denean has become renown as an activist through her church and community involvement.  It is commonplace to see her, usually with her children, at any civic meeting.  Denean is an avid supporter of her community.  She looks beyond personalities and preferences to see the bigger picture. She takes pride in being the champion for the underdog.  Her passion for making a difference has led her to a myriad of undertakings.

For the Arverne Church of God and Church of God Christian Academy, she volunteers as the Grants and Technology Coordinator.  She serves as a choir member, usher, and reader for the ministerial body.

Recently, Denean served as the Site Coordinator for the Far Rockaway Weed and Seed.  This is a Department of Justice initiative that brings together law enforcement, elected officials, and community residents to combat crime and enhance neighborhoods.  Through this effort, Denean worked with my office on Operation SNUG at the Redfern Houses. She designed Project Neighbor H.E.L.P (Hoods Embracing Life and Peace), which was implemented throughout all of the housing developments in the Weed & Seed target area, where local service providers went to the people and a message of nonviolence was communicated.

Denean has partnered with RDRC (Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corp.) to work with the Summer Youth Employment Program.  In 2008, she took eleven youth under her tutelage to create a youth directory for the Rockaway peninsula.

Currently, Denean serves as Vice-President of the 101st Precinct Community Council, where she is working to improve police-community relations.  In this effort, she collaborated with NYPD, Councilman James Sanders, Jr., NYC Parks, Weed & Seed, my office as well as many local organizations to produce Celebrate Rockaway 2009.  She is part of the founding body of the grassroots organization, ENACT (Edgemere Neighborhood Action Community Team). 

Denean has been certified by the American Red Cross of Greater New York to present Ready New York.  This enables her to do emergency preparedness presentations with local community groups as a Ready Rockaway volunteer.  Ready Rockaway is a peninsula-wide prototype of grassroots, committed residents’ eager effort to educate and prepare for emergencies.

Prior to becoming a housewife, Denean was Director of Church of God Nursery for three years, where she was responsible for 100 children aged 2-5 years.  That calling was preceded by a Senior Systems Analyst position with NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Denean is a graduate of SUNY Old Westbury, where she earned a Magna Cum Laude Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems. Denean attained an Associates of Science in Information Processing from Nassau Community College, in the Honors Program.

Denean is married to Charles Ferguson for 13 years.  They have two children, Vanessa and Carolynn.