We anticipated that when the new administration took office, there would be changes that would be detrimental to immigrants and refugees. We expected that, as with the first Trump administration, there would be a freeze on resettlement refugees allowed to come into the country despite them being the most thoroughly vetted population in the world and despite their significant contributions to the economy.

Well, that happened.

And then the Trump administration added insult to injury shortly thereafter.

The administration broke their promise to 731 refugees who are now living in Western New York and left us and the three other local nonprofits that do resettlement work in the lurch for about $1.5 million.

For 45 years, the federal government supported refugee families with necessities for their first 90 days after their arrival as they acclimated to their new communities. It paid organizations like IIB to make sure that integration work got done, including learning English basics, the layout of the city, the transit system, and how the job market works in America. In addition, resettlement agencies also get their kids into school, find them a family physician, help them with financial literacy and opening new banks accounts.

This integration program makes absolute sense since the more quickly the refugee families get settled, the more quickly they become self-sufficient and start contributing to the local economy.

However, without notice, the federal government froze the funds and told us to stop our integration work regardless of where these families were in the onboarding process. It didn’t matter if the families were here for two and a half months or if they just stepped off the plane with sand from the refugee camps still in their clothing.

We have a moral obligation to fulfill the integration work the U.S. government promised because it is the right thing to do. So that is why the International Institute of Buffalo, and our sister organizations need your help.  

You can help by contributing to the Crisis Response Fund so we can finish our work supporting and integrating these 731 people who are now our neighbors.

Get more background info by clicking on this link.

Jennifer Rizzo-Choi, 
Executive Director

In an interview with NPR station WNYC in New York City, Executive Director Jennifer Rizzo-Choi discussed the refugees left in limbo following the new administration’s freeze on funding, including for already contracted and completed work, to resettlement agencies doing integration. 

Western New York is having some warmer days lately, but that is no reason to put down your guard. We compiled and translated information on winter weather preparation into 13 languages so that everyone would be safe regardless of their first language.

The languages are Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Dari, English, French, Karen, Kinyarwanda, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, and Ukrainian.

Please include these tips wherever possible—send links far and wide or download the PDFs. Please put them in your email signature block, print them out, and hang them in the lunchroom, library, workplace, or house of worship. Let’s make sure everyone is safe this winter!

In honor of Black History Month, we recognized the economic, cultural, political, and social contributions of notable Black immigrants and refugees who’ve helped shape the vibrant tapestry of America. This month, we featured:

We are increasing our capacity to provide legal help by adding our new supervising immigration attorney, Claire Ty. Claire is relocating to Buffalo after living in Indiana for over 20 years.

She was a political refugee from the Pol Pot regime of Cambodia. She and her parents resettled in France. Claire grew up in France, where she graduated from law school. She earned a J.D. in Indiana and has been practicing immigration law upon graduation. Claire speaks French, Cambodian, and English and is an excellent addition to our legal department.

Every month, we honor some of the people and organizations in the community who help us make Western New York a better place for, and because of immigrants and refugees. Here it is, in case you missed it.

Every month, we join the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services naturalization ceremony in Buffalo to welcome our newest fellow Americans. The usual monthly ceremony welcomed 50 New Americans from 25 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Burundi, Canada, Congo, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, South Korea, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Yemen.

However, this month, there was a bonus ceremony to welcome 30 more people from 15 countries as they took their citizenship oaths at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. They came from Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Burma, Canada, China, Congo (Kinshasa), the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, India, Jamaica, Korea, South Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Because the federal government suspended the program that allows refugee families to come to America, the NAI department did not welcome any refugees this month. At the time of the suspension, we had welcomed 229 during the government’s present fiscal year.

However, our team is still providing services to the clients who arrived over the past 90 days. We have 172 clients learning English, and we are registering kids for school, arranging for medical care, teaching them how to use public transportation, linking adults to employment services, and helping families integrate into their new community.

Our case managers also play the role of cheerleader, teacher, counselor, and mentor as these refugee families navigate their new lives in a time of uncertainty. Our case managers face similar uncertainty, particularly those with families and friends who still live overseas.

Click here to get a better understanding of how immigrants and refugees help our community.

Employment Services

The Employment Services team (pictured above) actively works to train IIB clients, help them explore job opportunities, and connect them with employers.

We are also excited to announce a growing partnership with Lloyd Taco Factory, where three clients have already started working in food prep and dishwashing, with more in the hiring process. Additionally, our collaboration with Buffalo State University has led to the successful placement of six clients in cleaning and dining positions, with efforts underway to place more.

This month, our Job Club conducted another session to teach newly arrived refugees what is necessary to succeed in the American workplace. This month, the 30 clients who attended our class on Valentine’s Day were treated to pizza and sambusa by our team member Noorullah Aminyar (pictured seated above), who was celebrating his birthday.

Also, this month, the team participated in a job fair in Tonawanda, where they strengthened connections with over 60 employers and service providers and continued to make the case of why hiring our clients will help their organizations.  

We look forward to continuing these efforts and supporting our clients' career journeys!

Get more information on how our Employment Services team helps build the local economy and trains people to be exceptional employees.

International Exchanges and Education

It will be another record-breaking year for Model UN! An unprecedented 900+ students from 46 local schools are preparing for Thursday, March 18, and the debates will be dynamic as they represent 84 countries!

Did you know that Global Ties recognized IIB for turning $50,324 in federal funds for the International Visitor Leadership Program into $6,141,612 in local economic impact in FY2023?

This month, we hosted visitors who are Near East and North African professionals (pictured above) whose project was “Law Enforcement and Community Policing.” They met with several local resources, including Amherst, Buffalo, and Cheektowaga police departments. They were also welcomed by volunteer families for a meal, visited Niagara Falls, and watched the Super Bowl on television.

We conducted health sessions on mental health and the prevention of infections for IIB’s Ukrainian clients and Job Club participants. These sessions give our refugee clients information to navigate the American health system and encourage everyday wellness. We also held a global communication training session for UB’s Educational Opportunity Center about communication styles and cultural challenges.

Mark your calendar! We scheduled our always-lively Community World Trivia fundraiser for Thursday, April 17. We are looking for sponsors and teams to join us; please contact communications@iibuff.org.

Learn more about how our International Exchanges and Education team contributes to greater knowledge and understanding in our community!

Interpreting & Translation

Recently, the Interpreting team fulfilled 1,792 requests to provide interpreting services in 43 different languages.

The Interpreting team continues offering onsite interpretation and on-demand phone and audio/video remote services in over 85 languages. These services provide limited English speakers in WNY and worldwide with comprehensive language access.  

Email the interpreter schedulers at interpretation@iibuff.org to request interpreting services.

The Translation team completed 95 individual projects in 25 languages. Projects included personal documents, human resource documents such as employee onboarding materials, legal documents, and genealogy research. Reach out to the translation team at translation@iibuff.org to request translation services.

If you can communicate in multiple languages, we are always looking for talented linguists. By sourcing local interpreters and translators, we provide first-rate language access to our community, and that money stays in the community. 

Are you multilingual and interested in joining our team? We are looking for Karen, Karenni, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Pashto, Polish, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, and Ukrainian interpreters. We also seek Karen, Malay, and Pulaar/Fulani document translators. Click to apply.

Head to our Interpreting & Translation webpages to learn more about our work.

As we push for more personal interactions between community members and those we serve, we continue developing our life skills program. Getting around the city is one of the most essential daily learning tasks.

Commuting using public transit can be difficult even for those who were born here, so one can only imagine how much harder it can be for those who weren’t. But we have had a lot of success with recent volunteers accompanying new families, including Cassidy (pictured above). This Burmese family felt far more comfortable with the process after Cassidy assisted them on a trip to English class – so much so that they requested a selfie to commemorate the occasion!

We are always looking for help in some way, so if you want to donate your time, talent, or treasure, visit our website for more information. 

Come Work with Us!

We are always looking for good people so take a look at our careers page.