Resident Roundtable Member Spotlight

Wayne Breamfield, Drew-Hamilton Resident Association President

Wayne Breamfield has been resident association (RA) president of Drew-Hamilton Houses in Manhattan for four years and a resident of the development for 10 years. He is one of 32 NYCHA residents who are the first members of the Resident Roundtable, a committee launched in June 2021 to ensure that residents continue to play an important role in NYCHA’s Transformation Plan. 

Resident Roundtable members serve for two years and are tasked with gaining input from residents to help identify and prioritize new topics, making recommendations on NYCHA policies and programs, and advising and actively participating in the implementation of approved recommendations. Members represent 30 neighborhoods; Mr. Breamfield represents the Manhattan 9 area, which includes Drew-Hamilton, Dyckman, Harlem River, Polo Grounds Towers, and Rangel. 

Hear from Mr. Breamfield about why he joined the Resident Roundtable and his work as resident association president.  

Why did you want to join the Resident Roundtable?  

I wanted to join the Resident Roundtable because I felt like I wanted to address some of the changes we need to see within NYCHA as far as safety and security improvements for the residents. With the Resident Roundtable, we would be able to suggest some internal changes within NYCHA. 

What do you hope to accomplish as a member of the Resident Roundtable?  

We are representing residents and we want to make sure that we are all at the table making these decisions. We’ve had four meetings so far from September through December and they’ve been pretty productive. I’m also on the safety and security committee because I feel like with crime on the rise in New York, I wanted to see what we could try to get accomplished there. 

Why did you want to become resident association president at your development?  

I’m very passionate about my community and I just wanted to see a change and I wanted to be part of that change. I was seeing a lot of broken doors, broken elevators, some of the homelessness in the building, and it made me feel like I needed to run and do something. My grandmother has lived here for almost 40 years, and that was even more of a reason for me to join the board. Things won’t ever be perfect, but we can start to make changes to give people the quality of life that they deserve. 

Tell us about some of the work you’ve done as RA president.  

I’m proud of the outreach I’ve done at my development. I was able to bring the NYC Department of Homeless Services out here to address some of the issues we were having. We’ve given food out to residents that face food insecurity just about every day of the week. I gave out PPE supplies, hand sanitizer, gloves, masks. We’ve done back-to-school drives for the kids. As the RA president, my residents are very important to me, especially my seniors; a lot of them have felt alone and I want to make sure they have the social services they need, especially during this pandemic.