Queens, NY—On Saturday, December 3, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and NYC Council Member Shekar Krishnan held a press conference during NYIC’s Key to the City Holiday Family Resource Fair at Woodside Avenue Open Street. Key to the City brings free of charge critical services to immigrant neighborhoods throughout New York State, including immigration legal consultations, health resources, social services, workshops, and referrals. Like other Key to the City events this year, this fair made services and resources available for low-income immigrant New Yorkers and asylum seekers from the Southern Border, including free clothing, food, and hygiene kit distribution, as NYIC and its Welcoming New York campaign continue to take steps to ensure all new arrivals are welcomed to New York City with dignity, compassion and support.
The event was streamed on Facebook Live: link.
Adrienne Adams, NYC Council Speaker, District 28 said:
“As a city, we must do our part to provide resources and services for those who have recently arrived in our communities. It is critical that we honor this commitment to compassion and human rights by ensuring that our new neighbors have the assistance they need to lead healthy and dignified lives. The Council is proud to sponsor NYIC’s Key to the City Holiday Family Resource Fair, and I am grateful for our ongoing partnership to improve the lives of our city’s immigrant communities.”
Shekar Krishnan, NYC Council Member, District 25 said:
"New York City's immigrant communities, including tens of thousands of asylum seekers, need housing, healthcare, food for their families, and schooling for their children. Today's Key to the City resource fair, hosted here in the most diverse district in the entire city, will connect immigrant New Yorkers to the services they need to thrive in their new home. I'm excited to partner with Speaker Adams and the New York Immigration Coalition to support immigrants with the dignity and care that they deserve."
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition said:
“Recently, New York has welcomed thousands of asylum seekers who were cruelly bused from the Southern Border. For those who chose to remain in New York, vast challenges remain, from accessing social services to getting work permits to making it into immigration court. It can be hard to navigate these systems, and confusing to know where to turn for help. The Key to the City resource fairs are a place where asylum seekers, and other immigrant New Yorkers, can find a variety of critical services in one place, in their boroughs, and in culturally relevant languages. Since 2011, Key to the City has served over 60,000 New Yorkers from 75 countries across all five boroughs. And since this summer, we have ramped up our outreach to asylum seekers, to make sure this community can tap into the network of resource providers that have been a hallmark of this event for over a decade. Together, we can make sure our newest neighbors are given the opportunity to truly thrive in this city.”
###