THEY’VE GOT YOUR BACK:

Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Watches Out For Newest New Yorkers

By Brian M. Rafferty

The route to arrive in Queens is much more direct and obvious than the route new immigrants takes once they are settled in. Often, their journey is mired in red tape, they suffer from a language barrier, and the difference in cultures seems an insurmountable obstacle.

But there is a government group out there specifically designed to give aid to those who simply don’t know who to turn to – the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Headed up by Commissioner Guillermo Linares, the stated mission of the MOIA is to promote the full and active participation of immigrant New Yorkers in the civic, economic, and cultural life of the City by fostering communication and connection between City agencies and immigrant communities.

The MOIA creates outreach programs between city agencies and the immigrant population and offers its expertise to the Mayor regarding issues faced by immigrants throughout the city.

“New York City has always been a magnet for immigrants in pursuit of better lives,” said Linares. “But navigating a city as intricate as New York can be daunting to a newcomer, especially one who may not speak English. At MOIA, we work to ensure that immigrants know how to access city services.”

“We meet with civic, religious and business leaders to discuss the needs of immigrant communities,” he added. “We guide city agencies to immigrant networks, distribute critical information and address issues of concern. We also engage and partner with public and private institutions for the benefit of immigrants.”

HOW THEY HELP

For immigrants who are new to the country, the MOIA helps them understand which city services they can access, helps them find a community-based organization where someone speaks their home language or shares their cultural background, and helps them get information about pending applications from the Bureau of Citizenship (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service).

The MOIA also helps community groups that seek to aid immigrants get referrals from city agencies.

Working with the Mayor, Linares and his group have been able to help take the fear out of approaching city agencies. Too often, immigrants will not seek out services from the city for fear that their legal status will be questioned.

To that end, the mayor signed Executive Order 41 in September 2003 to ensure all immigrants – legal or not – access without fear to: the state children’s health plan, emergency medical care, prenatal care, domestic violence counseling, immunizations, HIV testing, emergency shelter, poison control, food pantry services, child welfare and foster care services, public education, school breakfast and lunch programs, senior services through the Department of Aging, the protection of the Dept. of Consumer Affairs and the Commission on Human Rights, access to all parks and libraries, public transportation, police and fire protection and some Dept. of Health services.

A WEB OF SERVICES

The MOIA has a wealth of information available on its Web site, which is one of the easiest to navigate of the city’s agencies.

Not only can you learn about the agency, but the site has links regarding employment, public benefits, public schools, housing and small business services.

Want to know more? There is also an explanation of Executive Order 41, an explanation of language access implementation and demographic information about the nationalities of the people of New York City.

The Web site also offers links to other agencies not under the city’s umbrella, including the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the NYC Dept. of Education, the Human Resources Administration and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Of course the main page for the site is in English, but thanks to the help of Babelfish.com, the site can also be translated in its entirely to Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Besides making sure that the city’s immigrants feel secure in their new environment, the Mayor’s Office on Immigrant Affairs wants to be sure that ALL New Yorkers have access to the same important information.

To that end, they have teamed up with other city agencies to create bulletins and advisories in multiple languages. For example, a health bulleting warning about the dangers of trans fats was put out by the New York City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene. That bulletin was also distributed in Spanish and Chinese, making it accessible to the thousands of immigrants that make up the largest non-English speaking populations in the city.

The same can be said over at the Board of Elections. Though new immigrants do not have voting rights, those who have become citizens do – though they may not be as proficient in English as they are in their mother tongue. Of the nearly 1 million foreign-born residents of Queens, more than 500,000 are American citizens. Because of their needs, voting information is presented in Spanish, Chinese and Korean, thanks to the initiatives of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

WELCOME KIT

The Mayor’s Office on Immigrant Affairs is located at 100 Gold St. in Manhattan, on the second floor. It is filled with information for newly arrived immigrants, and distributes a 102-page booklet put out by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in conjunction with the U.S. Dept. of Education titled “Welcome to the United States, A Guide For New Immigrants.”

The booklet covers a range of topics, from getting a job and paying taxes to enrolling your children in school and getting healthcare. It also breaks down the system of government, explaining the system of checks and balances, the concept of a bicameral legislature and outlines the process of naturalization.

To learn more about the MOIA, go to http://www.nyc.gov/html/imm/html/home/home.shtml. For more information on city services, given in 171 languages, call 311. To learn about The NY Immigration Hotline, also a good resource for immigrants looking for low-cost services from nonprofits, call (800) 566-7636.