NYCHA’s NAACP Branch – Busy All Year Long
As you may know, NYCHA’s National Association for the Advanced of Colored People (NAACP) branch held a Black History Month celebration in February, followed by a Women’s History Month in March. But did you know that NYCHA’s NAACP branch is active all year long, working on important issues and sponsoring activities that provide meaningful ways for NYCHA community members to get involved and make a difference?
Established in 1969, the work of NYCHA’s NAACP addresses issues that include criminal justice, civic engagement, education, health, economic development, and many others. Over the years, the branch has done a wide range work with and on behalf of its constituents, including holding workshops for NYCHA residents, supporting youth programming, and hosting a weekly radio show.
Branch participants work together on a variety of today’s most important political issues. As Lynn Spivey, the branch’s president, said, “Our theme last year, during voter registration was ‘Yes, we are non-partisan — but we are political as hell!’”
At the branch’s Black History Month 2025 event, held on February 26 at 1200 Waters Place in the Bronx, NYCHA NAACP branch members celebrated “the invaluable contributions of African Americans in the workforce as well as here at NYCHA specifically,” through every kind of work people do in the United States: “free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntary.”
“the invaluable contributions of African Americans in the workforce as well as here at NYCHA “
“Black History Month is a great opportunity to celebrate the amazing people that make up this community, some well-known and some less well-known,” said Ms. Spivey. “But everyone we honored at this year’s event has played an important role in the success of NYCHA. They work in many different departments and at all different levels of this Authority. We wanted to make sure to recognize not only folks from upper management, but also the wonderful colleagues who do their work on NYCHA’s frontlines. Everybody — from Caretakers all the way up to senior Vice Presidents — deserves to be celebrated. Everyone’s work is important, and everyone is included.”
The branch’s Women’s History Month “Moving Forward Together” celebration on March 27 at 1200 Waters was held in memory of Dr. Hazel Dukes, the renowned civil rights activist who served both as national president of the NAACP from 1990 to 1992 as well as President of its New York State Conference from 1977 until she passed away, at age 92, this past March 1. The focus of the gathering was to honor “the significant contributions of exceptional women who have positively influenced our community,” and quite a few remarkable female leaders were among the honorees, including NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova Hiatt.
“Our Woman’s History Month event was an opportunity to put our community’s amazing diversity on display,” said Ms. Spivey. “NAACP of course stands for ‘The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’ – but people come in all colors! And we seek to serve and represent them all. To do so, we look to our founders and to the mission of our organization — we advocate, we promote legislation, and we mobilize everyone on behalf of everyone, to do the good work that needs doing.”
Even before those celebrations took place this year, NYCHA’s NAACP participants were already hard at work with what they called their “Albany Mobilization”; branch members traveled together to New York’s state capital to lobby government officials on a variety of important issues on behalf of NYCHA communities.
“We traveled to Albany and spoke with a whole range of elected officials in the State Assembly and the State Senate on issues that affect New York State as a whole,” said Ms. Spivey, “and we shared the NYCHA community’s perspective on budget priorities. We talked about the importance of universal preschool meals, of prohibiting the use of Internet-enabled devices and of limiting kids’ use of cellphones during the school day – and these are only some of the things we lobbied for.”
NYCHA’s branch of the NAACP is active no matter what month it is, always engaging the community on current affairs, important political issues, and how these affect the NYCHA community. Joining this historic and long-running NYCHA organization provides participants the opportunity to help build the community’s voice and political power and then put that power to work in the larger political arena and community all year long.
For more information about the ongoing work and activities of NYCHA’s NAACP branch and to learn more about how to get involved, please visit www.naacpnycha.org or reach out directly to the branch via email at (347) 669-2421 or nychanaacp@gmail.com.
BONUS: April is Financial Literacy Month – are you ready to take charge of your finances? Join NYCHA’s NAACP Branch for an online workshop on April 16 from 6pm-8pm led by Ryan Mack, president of Main Street Economic Solutions. Mr. Mack will share insights on wealth building, eliminating debt, credit repair, retirement preparation, and responsible investing in this worthwhile workshop. Use the link or the QR code in the program flyer below to register for the Thursday 4/16 Zoom session.
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