By Aaron Ginsburg, Mon, January 23, 2023 Image via WikiCommons
About a week after declaring there is no more room for migrants in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams announced the opening of a fifth emergency response and relief center to accommodate the growing number of asylum seekers. The new center will open at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook in the coming weeks and serve roughly 1,000 single adult men, providing them shelter and medical, food, laundry, and reconnective services. The men will be relocated to the terminal from the Watson Hotel, which will be used to house families with children instead. An opening date for the center has not been announced yet.
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By Michelle Cohen, Wed, January 18, 2023 Mayor Eric Adams tours the Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center in Manhattan on September 15, 2022. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Mayor Eric Adams has agreed to a $275 million contract with the Hotel Association of New York City to provide housing for at least 5,000 migrants–$55,000 per asylum-seeker–the New York Post reports. The emergency agreement between the city’s Department of Homeless Services and the Hotel Association, which put in a formal bid to provide shelter amid the current migrant crisis, will include up to 55 smaller hotels, according to the association’s president, Vijay Dandapani.
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By Aaron Ginsburg, Fri, November 11, 2022 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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By Aaron Ginsburg, Wed, October 19, 2022 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
By Aaron Ginsburg, Thu, October 13, 2022 Image via WikiCommons
A four-star Times Square hotel will become an emergency shelter for hundreds of migrant families, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Wednesday. Located at 700 8th Avenue in Midtown West, the Row NYC Hotel will house at least 200 families, with the ability to host more in the coming weeks. The hotel, the second intake center/shelter to open for asylum seekers in the city, will offer food, medical care, casework services, and a “range of settlement options,” according to a press release.
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By Aaron Ginsburg, Wed, October 12, 2022 Photo via Wikimedia
New York City wants affordable housing developers to increase the number of homeless households accepted at their buildings as the shelter system capacity hits a record high amid an influx of asylum seekers in the city. As Crain’s reported, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration asked a group of developers to voluntarily remove units from the city’s housing lottery and “offer them up for homeless placements,” as a way to free up space at shelters for migrants. The city says roughly 17,000 asylum seekers have arrived since the spring, with the shelter population reaching more than 61,000 people as of last week.
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By Aaron Ginsburg, Fri, May 20, 2022 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
By Devin Gannon, Fri, September 6, 2019 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.
More here
By Devin Gannon, Wed, January 16, 2019 Via Flickr
There’s a steel wall in the Hudson River that celebrates immigrants, the only place in the United States where heritage can be honored at a national monument. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor first opened on Ellis Island in 1990 to recognize the country’s many immigrants and to raise money for the site’s National Museum of Immigration and the Statue of Liberty. Currently, there are 770 panels engraved with the names of nearly 775,000 immigrants. But spots on the wall are filling up, as the New York Times reported on Wednesday. Just five panels remain empty, enough space for roughly 3,300 names.
No, not that wall
By Dana Schulz, Fri, March 9, 2018 Daniela, from Colombia © Dru Blumensheid
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Dru Blumensheid shares some images from the Queens Museum‘s new exhibit Real People. Real Lives. Women Immigrants of New York. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected].
“Statistics do not tell the story of immigration. People do. Women do.” This was the impetus behind the new photo and video exhibit at the Queens Museum, “Real People. Real Lives. Women Immigrants of New York.” A partnership between New Women New Yorkers, NYC’s only non-profit dedicated to empowering young immigrant women, and artist Dru Blumensheid aka BUMESI, the exhibit features photos and videos of 16 young immigrant women taken in iconic locations such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Chinatown, all as a way to show “a nuanced and multi-layered picture… of the barriers and isolation they experience, and of the hopes, dreams, and talents they bring with them.”
In celebration of Women’s History Month, 6sqft chatted with Dru Blumensheid about her personal inspiration behind the project, what she learned from the experience, and how she hopes all New Yorkers can benefit from hearing these stories.
Hear from Dru and see her beautiful photos and videos