Image courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

Only a month after opening, the migrant shelter on Randall’s Island will close, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday. The 84,400-square-foot facility, which was designed for adult men and held 500 beds and a recreation center, will be replaced by a new center in Midtown Manhattan, as first reported by City Limits. The Randall’s Island facility is set to be shuttered next week, and current occupants of the facility will be provided with transportation to the Watson Hotel on West 57th Street, where 600 rooms will be used to house asylum seekers.

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Photo of the humanitarian emergency response and relief center for asylum seekers on Randall’s Island courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

New York City is currently experiencing a migrant crisis, with thousands of asylum seekers arriving in the city to take refuge from danger and lack of opportunity in their home countries. On Wednesday, the city opened its first outdoor shelter for asylum seekers on Randall’s Island, seen as a temporary rest stop before they reach their next destination. In addition to shelter, newly arrived migrants are in need of basic necessities and clothing, especially winter coats and warmer apparel. Ahead, find organizations and community centers across the city accepting donations for asylum seekers.

Here’s where you can donate

Photo by kathryn on Flickr 

The Upper Manhattan-based People’s Theatre Project (PTP) will run the city’s first research and arts center dedicated to immigrants and the immigrant experience in New York. On Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams announced the selection of the PTP Company, an immigrant and women-led nonprofit, to own and manage the Immigrant Research and Performing Arts Center (IRPAC), which is expected to open in Inwood in 2027. The city will grant the company $15 million to put towards the creation of the new 17,000-square-foot center, which will be developed by LMXD, MSquared, and Taconic Partners.

Details here

Inwood Hill Park, courtesy of Dana on Flickr

The city is seeking proposals from nonprofits interested in running a new immigrant research center and performing arts center in Inwood. The city’s Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) released a request for expressions of interest on Wednesday for a nonprofit organization to “design, construct, and operate” the Northern Manhattan Immigrant Research and Performing Arts Center (IRPAC). The neighborhood boasts a diverse community, with 49 percent foreign-born as well as the city’s highest concentration of residents of Dominican descent.

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Via Creative Commons

New Yorkers applying for affordable housing no longer need to provide credit scores or social security numbers, making it easier for low-income and undocumented immigrant households to qualify, the city announced Wednesday. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development expanded the guidelines of its affordable housing lottery policy to allow applicants to show 12 months of positive rental history instead of a credit check run by a landlord. This erases the need for adult household members to provide a social security number or an individual tax identification number.

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Of the estimated 11.1 million undocumented immigrants living across the U.S., 6.8 million or 61 percent live in just 20 metro areas, according to an analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey by the Pew Research Center. And as CityLab points out, this is an extremely high concentration considering just 36 percent of the country’s total population lives in these areas. The highest population is, not surprisingly, right here in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, with 1.15 unauthorized immigrants calling these cities home. We’re followed by the Los Angeles area with 1 million residents, but after that it drops drastically to 575,000 immigrants in Houston.

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Countries of origin for NYC’s refugees in 2002; map: DNAinfo

In the years since the 9/11 terror attacks, somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 people have sought refuge in New York City. Around 8,066 refugees have entered the United States through the city according to U.S. State Department Refugee Processing Center data. This week, President Donald Trump called for restrictions on entry to the U.S. for refugees and immigrants from the predominantly Muslim nations of Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Syria. A map of the world’s nations, courtesy of DNAinfo, shows the 59 countries from which New York City’s refugees have come each year since 2002.

Find out how many refugees have actually come to NYC from those countries