Arab-American Family Support Center

On Monday, AAFSC Executive Director Randy Ali joined the The New York Immigration Coalition, NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, and other immigrant advocates to warn New Yorkers that the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed changes to the public charge rule, set to take effect in September, could create fear and confusion for immigrant families seeking essential services in New York City. We know this ruling could have a significant impact on families who rely on public benefits. In 2020, we saw many families disenroll from critical health, nutrition, and housing programs out of fear and confusion about the public charge rule. Randy emphasized: "this new rule will lead to devastating effects on the health and economic stability of our community and our neighbors." AAFSC and our partners remain committed to ensuring immigrant communities have access to accurate information, resources, and support. If you are unsure how the public charge rule may impact you, or if you or a family member are considering disenrolling from essential benefits, please reach out to us or contact the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ (MOIA) free and confidential Legal Support Hotline at 1-800-354-0365 for accurate, up-to-date information about your rights and options. Read and watch abc7's piece to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gM_v5XmT

Work with us! We're a great team doing really meaningful work during an extraordinarily challenging time for immigrants.

We are hiring a Director of Legal Services to oversee our program that helps families understand their rights, complete immigration applications, and navigate the immigration system. Looking for a passionate, mission driven attorney to manage a small team and challenging, but deeply meaningful work. Learn more here! https://lnkd.in/g6cxd9qu

AAFSC executive director Randy Ali joined the opening panel for Brooklyn Org's "Communicating with Clarity" conference on June 16 alongside Jennifer Cowan and Rebecca Neuwirth. C. Zawadi Morris guided the discussion about communicating through uncertainty, which emphasized how it's more important than ever that nonprofits communicate our work effectively and clearly. Nonprofits use communications to build community, tell the human-centered stories of the people we serve, and invite New Yorkers from all walks of life to join us in our missions. Huge thanks to BKO for bringing so many nonprofits together, and reminding us that we are even stronger when we stand together. Photo credits: Paul Frangipane for Brooklyn Org

Our voice, our future. #ArabAmericansVote The NYC Primary Election is June 23, with early voting from June 13-21. Voting is one of the most powerful ways to ensure our communities are represented and our voices are heard. Need voting information in your language? Visit nycvotes.org. Looking for your poll site? Find it at findmypollsite.vote.nyc. We encourage our AAFSC community to pledge to vote in the upcoming elections by completing our form and committing to making their voices heard: bit.ly/aafsc-vote

AAFSC rallied alongside our partners and fellow community-based organizations to support NYCBenefits last week. We urged City leaders to restore $9.75 million in FY27 funding for this vital program. Without NYCBenefits, many of our clients won’t be able to access critical support that keeps their families stable and healthy — SNAP benefits to help put food on the table, support to find housing they can afford or avoid being evicted, and personal help navigating and finding health insurance. With NYCBenefits' support, AAFSC helped more than 4,000 families buy food and find affordable housing and health insurance last year. We reached more the 70 percent of them who do not speak English as their first language in Arabic, Spanish, Bangla, and French.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. New research from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding highlights a growing crisis facing Muslim communities in the US: higher rates of poor mental health, rising barriers to care, and the lasting impact of anti-Muslim hate, discrimination, economic stress, and displacement. Read more here: bit.ly/ispu-article Did you know that AAFSC is one of the only clinics in NYC that offers free counseling in Arabic, as well as Bangla, Hindu, Urdu, and other languages? Our team specializes in culturally responsive mental health support - and provided more than 4,000 individual counseling sessions in NYC last year. Please reach out if you or someone you know needs support: aafscny.org/referrals

A huge shout out to Maia Dillane, Senior Director of Strategy & Implementation, and Dipika Shrestha, Director of Evaluation, who co-authored this study examining access to halal food aid across New York City. The study found that halal and culturally relevant food options are limited across NYC’s emergency food system and highlights the importance of culturally responsive food access, language accessibility, and stronger partnerships to ensure families can access food that aligns with their dietary and cultural needs with dignity and trust. Access the study here: https://lnkd.in/ef33RPnX

Eid Mubarak to all of who are celebrating Eid Al-Adha. AAFSC wishes you and your loved ones peace, joy, and togetherness during this special time.

AAFSC celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month and the communities that make New York stronger. Language access is care. Our multilingual staff help families access services with dignity, confidence, and trust by speaking the languages of the communities we serve, including Bangla (Bengali), Hindi, Malayalam, Mandarin, Melanesian Tok Pisin, Nepali, Newari, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tibetan, and Urdu. At AAFSC, we are committed to improving access to care and connecting families to the support they need. Refer someone or sign up for support: aafscny.org/referrals