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During Hispanic Heritage Month, we honor and celebrate the history and culture of Hispanic Americans. This year’s theme, “Collective Heritage: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future,” reflects the work of Harborview Terrace Resident Association President Maria Guzman, a longtime advocate for public housing who has helped shape the community and inspire future resident leaders. 

Ms. Guzman has been a Harborview resident for nearly 50 years, having moved into the development soon after it was built. She has been involved with Harborview’s resident association (RA) in various capacities for more than 45 years, including serving as president three times. Before she retired, Ms. Guzman spent 32 years working in government and previously worked with community groups advocating on behalf of tenants’ rights and housing issues – so serving as an RA president felt like a natural step. 

“I enjoy being an RA president, because I get to do things that not only I want for public housing but I know other residents want as well,” Ms. Guzman said. “I take pride in the place I call home – and I believe home begins at the front door of the development, not my apartment door. Just as I would stand up for and care for my own home, I stand up for our larger home.” 

When she was 5 years old, Ms. Guzman moved to New York City from Aibonito, a small mountain town in Puerto Rico, with her mother and younger brother. “Like many families, my mom came to New York looking for better opportunities,” she said. “We lived in a tenement apartment where the bathroom was in the hallway and the shower was in the kitchen. It was tough, but we were raised with love and a strong sense of community.” 

When Ms. Guzman was younger, she tried to hide her accent to sound more Americanized – but later in life she embraced her heritage fully. “As a proud Nuyorican, I’m reclaiming my accent,” she said. 

Being Harborview’s RA president is a full-time job, and Ms. Guzman remains guided by the strong sense of community she was raised with. She is proud to have raised three children at Harborview and is happy that her younger sister serves as secretary on the development’s resident association board.  

She has spent decades improving the lives of her neighbors and creating spaces where people can come together. One of her proudest accomplishments is the transformation of Harborview’s outdoor spaces. She helped spearhead the reconstruction of the basketball court and reclaim land for a community garden, which is now in its second year of providing fresh vegetables to residents. A larger public plaza renovation — including play areas for children and fitness equipment for adults and seniors — is also underway. Ms. Guzman said these projects would not have succeeded without the dedication of the residents who volunteered to help complete some of the work as well as the partnership of the and its Executive Director Alex Zablocki.   

Ms. Guzman has watched her “one big home” at Harborview evolve from a mostly Latino and Black community to an increasingly multicultural neighborhood. She works hard to make all residents feel welcome, regardless of their home country. When working at her development’s food pantry program, she uses Google Translate to communicate in Mandarin and Hindi, and she is eager to learn the basics of both languages to better connect with residents. 

Looking to Harborview’s future, Ms. Guzman’s broader vision is for greater unity among longtime and newer community residents. “I wish the neighborhood would join us for Family Days and see what a strong community we are,” she said. “We’re all hardworking people, and I want our neighbors to see us that way.”