Photo Courtesy of Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor Adams said he’s “proud to expand the footprint of this important work across all five boroughs to support the asylum seekers arriving in our city every day.”
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams and Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner Manuel Castro recently announced an additional eight Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation sites that will be opened across the five boroughs, in an effort to continue supporting newly arrived individuals and families seeking asylum.
Eight community-based organizations have been chosen and granted $2.1 million to run these sites that will build on the ongoing work of the city’s first Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center, operated by Catholic Charities of New York.
“The city’s first Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center has served nearly 7,000 individuals since opening a few short months ago, and I’m proud to expand the footprint of this important work across all five boroughs to support the asylum seekers arriving in our city every day,” Adams said. “In partnership with these eight community-based organizations, these additional centers will help support the more than 26,000 asylum seekers who have arrived here in New York City with a range of services including legal assistance, medical care, and school enrollment. New York City will continue to do all we can to meet our moral and legal mandates and welcome and support asylum seekers arriving here, and these sites will play an important role delivering critical services directly to families and individuals who need them.”
The selected organizations will provide individuals and families with in-person support — in Spanish and in other languages — including a variety of supplemental services, comprehensive case management, and immigrant rights workshops:
- Aid for Aids International
- African Communities Together (ACT)
- Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York
- Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services Brooklyn & Queens
- Coalicion Mexicana
- La Colmena
- Mercy Center
- Mixteca Organization
- New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE)
The city’s first Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center — located at the American Red Cross of Greater New York headquarters — will continue to operate on weekdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and provide individuals and families with in-person support. Services at the navigation center and Catholic Charities sites will be available by appointments and walk-ins are accepted in all other locations. Appointments can be made by community-based partners and certain city agencies, including city shelter staff. Since this humanitarian crisis began, the city has — largely on its own — taken fast and urgent action, managing the arrival of a rapidly increasing number of buses across New York City with virtually no coordination from states sending them — opening 57 hotels as emergency shelters and three humanitarian relief centers already.
“Expanding access and resources for those seeking asylum is important as we work to ensure newly arrived immigrants are welcomed with dignity and respect,” said Beatriz Diaz Taveras , executive director, Catholic Charities Community Services. “Catholic Charities of New York is excited that we can continue our partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and extend our reach through 11 impactful organizations that will help to support this incoming population. As an extension of our work at the Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center, these satellite sites will help to provide much-needed on-the-ground case management services in all five boroughs.”
