NYCHA’s Ingersoll Community Center opened doors for the Key to the City resource fair this past Thursday, Dec. 12, in downtown Brooklyn. The event was hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) with the New York Legal Assistance Group and Councilmember Crystal Hudson’s office, boasting a “one-stop shop” for immigrant needs, from legal services to free feminine hygiene products.
“New York City is a proud sanctuary city to the over 3 million immigrants who call this city home,” said Hudson in an email statement. “Now more than ever, with direct threats to our communities, we must ensure that those who keep our city running have access to vital resources and services. I am proud to partner with the New York Immigration Coalition and its Key to the City events now and always.”
Key to the City dates back roughly a decade, since the influx of migrant bus arrivals starting in 2022. NYLAG Immigrant Protection Unit Co-director Jodi Ziesemer saif pivoting is nothing new, pointing to hosting fairs in Nepali communities when Nepal received Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or in Arab American neighborhoods when current President-elect Donald Trump ordered the “Muslim Ban” in his first term.
“Key to the City is not targeted or limited to any specific population or immigration need,” said Ziesmer. “There’s a lot of programming that is happening, including from the city to assist newly arrived immigrants with asylum applications and other types of services, and certainly we do serve newly arrived immigrants through Key to the City. In 2022, early on, [at] an event that was near one of the shelters that was housing a number of migrants, [we] saw a huge outpouring of community needs and really discovered that people didn’t understand how to access legal services.”
Over the past 18 months, Ziesmer has seen a growing need for West African language services at Key to the City events, particularly due to the increased attendance of Guinean asylum seekers. For this resource fair, NYIC’s Director of Community Programming Jesus Casado Gonzalez said surrounding NYCHA residents were the focus because the developments boasted a large Spanish-speaking population.
For months, organizers have prepared for the possibility, and now reality, of another Trump presidency. To them, Key to the City is a key for the city to push back on anti-immigration policy previously enacted by the president-elect in his first term.
“We’re just activating the preparation that we did for this possible scenario, and one of them is making sure [these programs] like Key to the City continue being successful and sustainable and shifting the attention to what’s needed,” said Gonzalez. “For instance, we foresee that for the next year, a lot of resources [of] ‘know your rights’ information for immigrant communities is going to be very important for people to be educated. The best way to safeguard and protect our communities is to actually educate them on a lot of the things that they have access to, legally.”
Key to the City also provides other resources for immigrants beyond legal services. For instance, Fritzi Bodenheimer, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library, invited new New Yorkers to take advantage of English language classes at the borough’s 62 branches.
“You can sign up for a library card right here today,” said Bodenheimer. “You can start the process online. You can go into a branch … and you are welcome to have a card. It’s our most joyous thing to provide a new immigrant or a long-timer with a card.”
Sonam Choedon, Hot Bread Kitchen’s director of community and member engagement, staffed a table at Key to the City in hopes of connecting with immigrants interested in professional culinary training. She pointed out her organization’s Culinary Career Pathways for New New Yorkers, which helps work-authorized asylum seekers.
“There is an interest in demand, in wanting to work, wanting to move out of the shelters, wanting to contribute for their families,” said Choedon. “Any immigrant in New York City can tell you that they’re really excited to work and provide for their families and have a better future. The reason why they came to this country is the city especially, and all of our program participants are motivated [and] eager to contribute and to be a part of New York City.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.