Meet the Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy Participants 

In January 2023, NYCHA launched its first-ever Coaching and Mentoring Leadership Academy (CMLA). Participants in the 16-week program are receiving training and coaching in areas such as strategic communications and crisis management, and they get the opportunity to enhance their leadership and management skills through mentorship. 

Read on to learn more about a few of the mentors and mentees participating in the Leadership Academy.   

Resident Buildings Superintendent Shateina Haynes and Deputy Director for Quality Assurance Neagia Drew 

Shateina Haynes is a Resident Buildings Superintendent at Castle Hill Houses. She joined NYCHA in 2001 through the Work Experience Program and started her career as a Seasonal Aide before becoming a Caretaker J. She later became a Heating Plant Technician. In 2017, she was promoted to Assistant Superintendent.  

Ms. Haynes was one of about 70 employees who applied to join the CMLA. She said she was encouraged to apply partly due to how she overcame adversity, rising through the ranks and gaining four civil service titles – all while being a single mother and a full-time student.  

“I looked forward to joining this program for an opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and to obtain additional professional developmental tools,” said Ms. Haynes. “The bonus I have since received from this mentoring program is greater than any outcome I imagined. I found friendship with my mentor. This is definitely a sisterhood that will not waiver. Ms. Drew’s strength and career catalogue is admirable, and I am inspired. This collaboration with Ms. Drew displays diversity and equality within a cultural workforce at NYCHA, and I am beyond grateful.” 

Neagia Drew, Ms. Haynes’ mentor, has served NYCHA for over 27 years. She is currently the Deputy Director for Work Order Reform in the Quality Assurance Department. Ms. Drew started her NYCHA career as a trainee in the Housing Youth Training Program in 1995. She has since worked as a Caretaker J, Supervisor of Caretakers, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent at Williamsburg Houses. In 2012, she transferred to the Planning Unit and was soon promoted to Skilled Trades Administrator for Brooklyn and Queens. In 2021, she joined the Technical Services Department’s Work Order Reform program as Operations Support Manager before transferring to the Quality Assurance Department.  

Ms. Drew said she joined the CMLA because she wanted to give back to others just as her mentors had supported and shaped her career. 

“I am delighted to have this opportunity to be a mentor to work with and guide one of the leaders of tomorrow, and hand down the knowledge and skills I have gained throughout my years at NYCHA and from my mentors,” said Ms. Drew. “Meeting and working with my mentee, Ms. Haynes, has been fulfilling, and as a result I have also grown. We started out not knowing how enriching the process would be. Everyone comes out of these partnerships differently; however, our common goal is to inspire, motivate, and work well with others while providing better services to our residents. Getting to know Ms. Haynes has been more than a work assignment – it has become a friendship that we both benefit from. This is a new partnership.”