NEW YORK – New York has launched a program to strengthen civic leadership of people who become US citizens and connect them with local government, institutions and their neighbors, Governor Kathy Hochul announced.
The New York State Civic Leadership Program is a partnership between the New York State Office for New Americans and Welcome America, a recognized national leader in the inclusion of immigrants. This pilot program will offer leadership development and civic training workshop sessions to New Americans who want to make a positive impact in their communities.
“New York is built on the hard work and determination of generations of immigrants and we welcome all those looking to start a new life in our state,” Governor Hochul said. “The New York State Civic Leadership Program, the first of its kind, will help new Americans build strong bonds with their communities, provide support to help them contribute to a prosperous New York state and usher in the next generation of local leaders “.
The civic leadership program will foster welcoming and inclusive communities by ensuring that immigrants and refugees can access local resources, be connected to opportunities to share their voices and participate meaningfully in their communities and their neighbors and institutions; all of which will help create an environment in which new Americans can thrive and belong.
The New York State Office for New Americans partnered with Welcome America develop a curriculum for the workshops that make up the Civic Leadership Program. Welcoming America provides ongoing technical assistance to three community organizations in New York State who will use this new civic leadership curriculum. Welcoming the United States’ development of this curriculum, which addresses the needs of New York State communities, will be an important resource for the field of immigrant inclusion not only in the state, but nationally as well.
The three community organizations piloting the Civic Leadership Program are the Sino-US Planning Council, Agri-Business Child Development and LifeWorks; These agencies will launch the pilot program in three different regions of New York State, in both rural and urban areas. These agencies, which serve New York City, Orange and Saratoga counties, will recruit attendees and facilitate workshop sessions using the new curriculum by the end of the fall.
“This new initiative from the Hochul administration and launched by the Office of New Americans is a powerful tool to ensure that new and emerging immigrant communities are better integrated into our nation’s social, economic and political fabric,” said Congresswoman Catalina. Cross. “Leadership skills in these communities are critical to immigrant integration. The New York State Civic Leadership Program demonstrates how New York can lead the nation in building strong communities that understand and strengthen strong traditions and institutions. Democrats of our nation.
A special effort will be made to involve immigrant parents and health care workers who may have a child with a disability, contributing to the efforts of the unique initiative Ramírez June of ONA. This initiative, the first of its kind in the nation, develops the statewide capacity to support New Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I / DD) and their families by connecting them to vital resources, information and services in the state of New York.
The civic leadership program will be a model across the country to support immigrant voice, civic leadership and integration, building on other efforts by the ONA to strengthen citizenship and community engagement in new American communities.
The New York State Office for New Americans, founded in 2012, is the first immigrant services legal office in the country. ONA helps all New Americans access and navigate a variety of free services and supports through its state network of community providers.
For any immigrant who needs assistance or to get in touch with ONA programs, call the New Americans Hotline at 1-800-566-7636 from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, Monday through Friday. All calls are confidential. Support is available in more than 200 languages.
More information on this site.
