HIAS Praises $2 Million Supplemental Funding For New York State Resettlement Agencies

NEW YORK—In response to the New York state budget’s inclusion of $2 million to support refugee resettlement agencies, HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield issued the following statement:

“We are pleased to see that the 2017-2018 New York state budget includes $2 million to support agencies that provide critical support for refugees and asylees across the state. With unprecedented numbers of refugees and asylum seekers forced to flee their home countries, combined with declining US federal support for resettled refugees, state assistance for refugees and asylees is more important than ever. This supplemental funding will help HIAS and our partners to provide services like case management, employment assistance, legal services, English language instruction, and other community resources to enable refugees and asylees to continue to thrive in New York.

“Following the Passover holiday and the retelling of our people’s liberation from Egypt, we are especially proud to stand in solidarity with refugee advocates in New York and around the country. We are grateful to Governor Andrew Cuomo for his longtime support of refugees in New York, as well as Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and New York Assemblymen Sean Ryan and Anthony Brindisi who secured this funding. Thousands of New Yorkers—including many local Jewish communities across the state—advocated for this funding and for our government to do more to protect and welcome refugees. Our hope is that other states will follow in New York’s footsteps by allocating similar levels of support for these critical services.”

HIAS serves refugees and asylum seekers in New York City, Westchester County and through our affiliate agency Jewish Family Services of Buffalo. Take a moment to watch our recent video, A Sign of Hope for Buffalo’s Deaf Refugees, which shines a spotlight on services to a particular group of refugees in New York.

More than 70 congregations in New York have joined the HIAS Welcome Campaign, a network of more than 340 congregations across the United States who are responding to the largest refugee crisis in human history. New York is also strongly represented among the more than 2,000 Rabbis who have declared their support for welcoming refugees.  

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