Nonprofit manages more than 3,300 units and more than 100 buildings designed to help low- and moderate-income families and seniors
By Stefan Yablonski
When his oldest son asks him, “What do you do?” the new president and CEO of Christopher Community, Inc. says “I help people.”
For more than 50 years, Christopher Community has helped low- and moderate-income families and seniors find housing to fit their specific needs.
The Syracuse-based affordable housing nonprofit organization develops and operates safe, affordable housing that respects the dignity of its residents and fosters their independence, all while enhancing the character of the neighborhoods in which they live. It currently manages more than 3,300 units and more than 100 buildings.
Christopher Community also administers Onondaga County’s Rental Assistance Program (Section 8) which serves more than 1,200 households.
“I’m just starting to settle in and trying to keep pace with the rest of the team. I started April 23,” Jeffrey Eysaman said. “We’ve been around for 50-plus years. We have properties from here to Buffalo, Watertown and down to Binghamton — we really cover Central New York.”
“I’m honored to return to a community that means so much to me and I’m deeply grateful for the chance to lead an organization committed to ensuring safe, affordable housing for those who need it most,” he said at the time of his appointment. “Together with our dedicated team, I look forward to building solutions that strengthen lives and neighborhoods across Central New York.”
Eysaman grew up in Ilion in Herkimer County and went to school in Albany.
“I earned a bachelor of arts degree in history and political science from The College of Saint Rose — which actually just closed this past spring,” he said.
He moved to Syracuse in 2015 and got his foot in the door in the nonprofit scene with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse.
“I started there in 2016 as a club house director and slowly worked my way up to program director and then in 2019 I took over as executive director.
“So I was able to gain a lot of experience and insight about serving some of the most vulnerable populations — as well as kind of leading an organization through a really difficult time during the pandemic. Thinking back it was a really difficult time. It kind of threw me into the fire of being creative, leading people and serving a mission.”
He was there until 2022 when he decided to join the team at the YMCA of Central New York.
He spent time at its downtown branch and served as executive director from January 2023 thru February 2024.
“And then in February of last year I decided to move to Boston,” he said.
He was executive director of the Thomas M. Menino YMCA in Boston (2024–25).
“I had a great time. It is a great city,” he said. “But my family and I, we missed home. So we came back.
“There’s a lot of excitement with the I-81 project, the arrival of Micron — you know our community is going to be looking different. I’m really excited to be with an organization that will be here to make sure that people have a safe place to live.”
Part of the community
As president and chief executive officer, he oversees the overall management, operations and strategic direction of Christopher Community.
He said he will lead the organization in executing its mission and vision, promoting growth and sustainability and ensuring financial health and operational efficiency across more than 70 properties and 3,300 housing units.
“I just want to make sure — our No. 1 priority is serving our mission. We are a part of the community that we are serving,” he said. “We don’t want to be just a building or the people that are managing properties. We want to be an active participant in the communities — a part of solutions that are helping people.
“In order to do our job we need to be there having conversations. So that really is the top of my list. When you have a service area as large as ours we prioritize being present.
“And as far as our current properties, we are really making sure that we are focusing on quality, making sure that our buildings are clean and safe, that our residents have an opportunity for a better life. We are giving people an opportunity to feel like they can live and really thrive; that they can be independent. We are partners with them in whatever their personal goals may be. Housing is one less thing that they have to worry about.”
Career path
“You know, this is definitely not something that I saw for myself growing up. Didn’t think I wanted to be in the nonprofit. But I think it is something that — I don’t think I found it; I think it found me,” he said. “Being in a place where I can serve people has given me so much privilege. I have an amazing wife. I have an amazing family and support system and being able to gain all this experience working with different populations in different settings. I think to be able to use that now and help organizations serve others that maybe haven’t had such good luck is really meaningful and feels really purposeful.”
It’s something that when his oldest son asks him ‘what do you do?’ It’s really easy to say, ‘I help people.’ And he can understand that, he added.
“It’s my purpose and my passion to be in a place where I can help create opportunities for positive change and really to serve others. I think there are a lot of people who know about us, but don’t really know what we do,” he said. “So we are working to figure out how we can tell our story a little bit better and kind of start to bring people behind the curtain because we have an amazing team of people that every day is making some incredible things happen.
“When you think about housing and someone going through the gauntlet of going through life, going home, worrying where can you put your head down where it’s clean not have to worry about tomorrow, can I come back here?
“That’s something special. It’s something that I’ve never had to worry about. But I can only imagine what it would be like and how that would impact the trajectory of my whole life. We really want to be able to shed light on the work that our people do — because they just do it; they aren’t looking for a pat on the back or anything. That’s just who they are, what they do. We want to let people know we are here to help.”
Sports fanatic
He met his wife, Deka, when they were working for the Boys & Girls Club. She ran one of the teen centers and he ran a youth center.
“I used to pick her brain on things and from there we just started a wonderful friendship,” he said. “We have two incredible sons, Max (8) and Micah (2). That along with work keeps us very, very busy. We live in the Strathmore neighborhood in Syracuse.
“I love to travel with my wife and family. Outside of work, I like to play golf — I don’t know if I play well, but I love to play it. I am really a sports fanatic — baseball, basketball, football. I am a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Dallas Cowboys.”
He was in Boston when the Celtics won the championship.
“I was there for the parade. It was cool; my first time living somewhere where they had a major sports team,” he said.