Richards launches Immigrant Welcome Center
By Nelson A. King
Flanked by elected officials,
advocates and leading immigration
service providers, Queens
Borough President, Donovan
Richards, Jr. on Tuesday, June
15 cut the ribbon for Queens
Borough Hall’s new Immigrant
Welcome Center.
“There’s a reason why we’re
called ‘The World’s Borough.’
Every day, families from all
corners of the globe come here
to Queens to start businesses
in our neighborhoods, send
their children to our schools
and be integral parts of our
thriving communities,” Richards
said.
“We could not be prouder to
open the first-ever Immigrant
Welcome Center at Queens
Borough Hall to better serve
our immigrant families and
provide a vast array of critical
services,” he added.
Richards said more than onethird
of New York City’s three
million immigrants reside in
Queens, with nearly 50 percent
of the borough’s 2.4 million
residents born abroad.
Beginning with the Jun. 15
“soft launch” of the Immigrant
Welcome Center and continuing
Caribbean L 18 ife, JULY 2-8, 2021
into the future as capacity
and the variety of available
services expands, Richards said
families contacting or visiting
Queens Borough Hall will be
connected with comprehensive,
multilingual services, such as
legal assistance and referrals
to community-based organizations
and city services.
The Immigrant Welcome
Center will be staffed by a fulltime
coordinator.
Richards said the coordinator
and his director of immigrant
affairs — both of whom
are immigrants themselves
and as fluent in Mandarin and
Spanish, respectively — will
assist in case management.
CUNY Citizenship Now!, the
largest university legal assistance
program in the nation
providing free and confidential
citizenship and immigration
law services, will partner with
the Queens Borough President’s
Office to help assist with
legal consultations.
Additional partnerships with
other service providers, as well
as city and state agencies, are
expected as the center’s operations
expand in the future,
Richards said.
Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards (fourth from left) at ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Offi ce of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards
Coinciding with the “soft
launch” of the center is the
Queens Borough President’s
Office’s first-ever language
access phone line.
Non-English speakers calling
the office in search of services
facilitated by the center
will be simultaneously connected
to an office staff member
and a third-party translator,
“breaking down any potential
language barriers between the
staff member and the caller,”
Richards said.
“We applaud Borough President
Richards for his commitment
and efforts to create an
Immigrant Welcome Center,
bringing much needed services
to Queens’ immigrants,”
said CUNY Citizenship Now!
Director Allan Wernick. “We
are pleased that CUNY Citizenship
Now! will be providing
free, high-quality immigration
assistance at the center.”
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