International Institute of Buffalo

01/04/2021

"Migrant", "Refugee", "Asylum Seeker," What do these labels mean and how are they important? At the International Institute of Buffalo we understand the implications and differences between terms used for various groups of displaced persons, but it also important for the general public to learn as well!

The effects of terminology have both legal and moral implications. At the Institute we support every individual's right to seek a better and safer life for themselves and their family. Learning these terms and the processes of getting legal status can help foster understanding in our community and support for all of our neighbors!

01/03/2021

Can you help furnish our aslyee clients' new homes before the New Year?

Two asylum seekers and one asylee family have finally been legally approved to start their new lives in America! After an arduous journey which includes walking through entire countries and managing the detention center system, there is nothing these individuals deserve more than a safe, stocked apartment in 2021!

We've found the perfect homes and each will move in sometime next week, however there are many items left on our list that are needed to furnish these homes. Asylum seekers receive no monetary assistance even after gaining legal status, so we must rely on the kindness of our community to welcome our new neighbors!

Consider making a household gift before our clients move in next week from our Myregistry wishlist: https://buff.ly/3pfwQgy or Amazon wishlist: https://buff.ly/31BJJqV

01/02/2021

The Interpretation & Translation Department is now accepting registration for their Introduction to Community Interpreting Training.

Please join us online at 12:00 PM EST on Wednesday, January 13th for a four hour training session to learn more about interpreting for your local community.

All are welcome and no prior experience is required!

To register, visit the following link: https://buff.ly/3rKssrZ

01/01/2021

For Jordan% New years post

Happy New Year from all of us at The International Institute of Buffalo!

This year although challenging, showed the sheer force and goodness of our community! From our dedicated staff who changed gears to provide virtual services to clients, to our interns who were flexible and eager to learn in new ways, to our community members who continued to support and welcome refugees, immigrants, and survivors: 2020 showed who we really are and what we can achieve together!

Here's to a new year of appreciating Buffalo's diversity and uplifting all of our spectacular neighbors! Click here to start off the year with a donation that will help our services to continue and expand: https://buff.ly/3lA31Fe

12/31/2020

Have you been using Amazon Smile for your Amazon purchases?

With every item you buy on Amazon, you could be donating to our services and clients! Follow this link to find out how: https://buff.ly/2Nv09KT

If you haven't started using Amazon Smile yet, why not make double the impact by purchasing one of our apartment wishlist items with the smile link? With every Amazon Smile purchase from the list, you'll be donating a household item to a newly arrived refugee and donating a portion of you purchase payment to our organization, sending double the love! 😍 https://buff.ly/3pfwQgy

12/30/2020

Can you help furnish our aslyee clients' new homes before the New Year?

Two asylum seekers and one asylee family have finally been legally approved to start their new lives in America! After an arduous journey which includes walking through entire countries and managing the detention center system, there is nothing these individuals deserve more than a safe, stocked apartment in 2021!

We've found the perfect homes and each will move in sometime next week, however there are many items left on our list that are needed to furnish these homes. Asylum seekers receive no monetary assistance even after gaining legal status, so we must rely on the kindness of our community to welcome our new neighbors!

Consider making a household gift before our clients move in next week from our Myregistry wishlist: https://buff.ly/3pfwQgy or Amazon wishlist: https://buff.ly/31BJJqV

12/29/2020

Just Buffalo Literary Center Youth Fellow Zanaya, wrote this beautiful poem after interviewing those who have immigrated to Buffalo for her project called "Our America"

On her poetry Zanaya says, "My hope is that, by sharing these narratives, we can learn how each of our experiences intertwine and how human empathy ties people from varying backgrounds together."

Along streets like Bidwell park (at least before the snow came) or on paper, we can't wait to read more of Zanaya's work!!

12/28/2020

“Usually refugees have a long journey and eventually find a new home, places like Buffalo,” said Dr. Myron Glick, founder and CEO of Jericho Road Community Health Center, which serves refugees in Buffalo. “Then that new home is not that easy to adapt to, and it's incredibly challenging. They may think that they've suddenly arrived, but now there's a whole other set of challenges.”

Read Noor's story here: https://buff.ly/3rGYyF1 (trigger warnings for trauma, domestic, and sexual abuse.)

As Amy Fleischauer, our Director of Survivor Support services says in the article, situations of abuse, both physical and psychological, occur within the refugee community just as they do in the wider community.

The donations we receive to our annual fund go to help survivors of trafficking and domestic abuse, helping them to find safety, independence, and freedom in our city! You can make a gift here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/international-institute-of-buffalo-inc

New York State Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline: 1-800-942-6906. This is a 24/7 service with multi-language access.

12/27/2020

This past year, your Annual Fund gifts allowed our staff to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 and the economic recession with courage, creativity, and perseverance.

Here's how your gifts helped our Interpreting and Translation Department make change virtually:

🔹 Partnered with public health, education, and other leaders to translate critical COVID messaging in dozens of language and culturally competent ways.

🔹 Pivoted quickly from in-person services to facilitating video and telephone interpreting and expanding options for video interpreting.

🔹 Adapted to train customers and interpreters on a variety of technology platforms.

🔹 Invested in interpreter trainings to equip interpreters worldwide to provide language services in healthcare settings. We have trained interpreters from at least 10 U.S. states and over 15 countries, including Argentina, Egypt, and Thailand.

Quality interpreting and translation is more important than ever. Make an impact today: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/international-institute-of-buffalo-inc

12/25/2020

Happy Holidays to our wonderful community! Each and everyone of you has helped to make our season full of love and cheer--

This holiday season we are reflecting on the warmth of our city, which radiates through even our winter seasons. From those who donated to our annual fund or helped to furnish refugee and asylee homes, to our interns and Hello volunteers who give of their time to our organization, to everyone who did their holiday shopping at a local immigrant owned business, you all are the greatest gift we could ask for! 🎁 😍

12/24/2020

'The 12 Days of Christmas' - Buffalo style

Caroling the Buffalo way this Christmas eve-- thank you to The Buffalo News for sharing their 12 Days of Christmas version with us! (The 12 tea leaf salads have our heart 😘 )

It all starts and ends with a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl victory. But what of the treats - all with Buffalo flair - on the other days? You'll just have to watc...

12/23/2020

Can you help furnish Asylee clients' apartments this holiday season?

Three of our asylee clients have finally been granted asylum and we've worked hard to find them their first Buffalo apartment! These individuals have travelled for years and through multiple countries to find a safe place to live. They've endured detention centers, a long and arduous path through South America, and have lived in Vive, a local center than provides shelter and protection to asylees while their cases are processed through the U.S. legal system.

Now the asylum seekers biggest wish is to start working and supporting themselves and their families. Our Employment team will match them with jobs in the coming weeks, but for now we want to make sure they have a safe and comfortable place to rest after such a strenuous and dedicated journey!

Our wishlist has all the items from Target and Amazon that our new neighbors need to set up their first homes. Please donate whatever you can to make their official welcome and holiday season merry and memorable!: https://buff.ly/3pfwQgy

12/21/2020

Can you help furnish Asylee clients' apartments this holiday season?

Three of our asylee clients have finally been granted asylum and we've worked hard to find them their first Buffalo apartment! These individuals have travelled for years and through multiple countries to find a safe place to live. They've endured detention centers, a long and arduous path through South America, and have lived in Vive, a local center than provides shelter and protection to asylees while their cases are processed through the U.S. legal system.

Now the asylum seekers biggest wish is to start working and supporting themselves and their families. Our Employment team will match them with jobs in the coming weeks, but for now we want to make sure they have a safe and comfortable place to rest after such a strenuous and dedicated journey!

Our wishlist has all the items from Target and Amazon that our new neighbors need to set up their first homes. Please donate whatever you can to make their official welcome and holiday season merry and memorable!: https://buff.ly/3pfwQgy

12/21/2020

In a project more than a year in the making, Sesame Workshop is rolling out its first Rohingya Muppets, revealed exclusively by NBC News. The characters, a pair of twins named Noor Yasmin and Aziz, are part of a $200 million effort to expand upon an innovative form of education at the camp.

Most of the Rohingya children inside the world’s largest refugee camp here have never watched television. Now, with the help of a battery-powered projector, they’re laughing along with Elmo, the lovable Sesame Street character.

“If we can help these children get off on the right start, where they can thrive, then they have so much more of a chance of succeeding later on,” Sherrie Westin, president of social impact for Sesame Workshop, said.

We adore this new project from Sesame Street! This is the kind of inclusion that makes a huge impact in children's lives all across the globe, from the children learning about refugees to the children who are refugees and get to see themselves represented in media, we are sure that Noor Yasmin and Aziz will create as much impact as they create entertainment 😍

https://buff.ly/37sVdRN

12/20/2020

This past year, your Annual Fund gifts allowed our staff to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 and the economic recession with courage, creativity, and perseverance.

Here's how your gifts helped our International Exchanges and Education Department to keep educating virtually:

🔹 We developed a children’s reading club to bring free, multicultural books to elementary students across the community. The books feature heroes and fairytales from all over the world and help teach the advocacy, acceptance, and compassion.

🔹 With reluctance to seek medical care rising due to COVID concerns, we worked with over 130 refugee women and distributed information in 16 languages to assist with scheduling mammograms and clinical breast exams. And we helped 39 women navigate their medical appointments.

🔹 We created simplified, culturally relevant one-page flyers about COVID-19 in 5 languages and worked with our partners to distribute information to community groups, ethnic businesses, and churches.

🔹 With restrictions on international travel postponing in-person International Exchange visits, we developed virtual exchanges for international delegates from around the world.

With your gifts, we deepened cross-cultural understanding and continued to build a community that values diversity. Make an impact today: https://buff.ly/3lA31Fe

12/19/2020

This past Saturday (12/12), the International Institute of Buffalo hosted a drive through donation drive! We had 40 donors come through Generosity Lane, donating warm winter wear and blankets, shovels for the upcoming snow, and lots of toys for our clients children to open as holiday gifts!

The donations will go to refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence that we serve through our services. In total we had about 115 scarves, 100 hats, 70 pairs of gloves, and 70 coats, 25 blankets, 5 snow shovels, and 400 toys/ games/ puzzles/ coloring books/ play balls.

The donation drive was zero contact as participants could pre-register so we have all their contact info and vehicle details in advance. They were instructed to put all the items in their trunk or back seat and stay in the car, and we would take it out for them.

The donation drive was a success thanks to the generous support of the community! We hope to have more of these drive thru donation drives in the future with a different theme for each one. Keep an eye out on social media for our next trip down Generosity Lane in February!

12/18/2020

In an effort to keep our community safe, we've been collaborating with The Erie County Department of Health to have essential Covid updates translated into 14 languages to make sure health information, like this tweet about the vaccine, is accessible to ALL Americans.

Please spread the link to our translated content and help us stop the Covid spread! https://iibuffalo.org/covid-19-commuications/

12/18/2020

Our inspirational quote of the week comes from former President George W. Bush. Despite the former president’s controversial policy history, he labeled immigration as a “blessing and strength” to this nation and now advocates on the importance of America’s immigrant history. We hope this quote encourages you to fight with the immigrants that continue to struggle in this country. Immigration is not a partisan issue, it is apart of the fabric of our history.

12/17/2020

Your Gifts Fund Creativity, Resiliency, and JOY!

Make a gift TODAY:
https://secure.givelively.org/donate/international-institute-of-buffalo-inc

This past year, your Annual Fund gifts allowed our staff to respond to adversity with courage, creativity, and perseverance. This year our staff:

•Pivoted to remote services to protect the health and safety of our clients and communities.
•Developed and translated COVID public health materials to ensure that ALL members of our community were adequately informed to keep their families safe.
•Assisted domestic violence clients in finding safe housing virtually.
•Developed innovative partnerships to provide enriching educational programs to children and families adapting to remote learning.

Together we overcame so much this year. We are stronger for having navigated the challenges of 2020 and we know that together, with your generous support, we can do so much more!

12/17/2020

Donate Now | International Institute of Buffalo

“Getting the information to the communities, I would say that's probably one of the biggest challenges,” said Denise Phillips Beehag, director, New American Integration, Buffalo’s International Institute.

Beehag said international families struggle just like American families with remote learning.

“They aren't always able to ask their parents or whatever adults are in the home at the time they're studying for help because they themselves are limited in English,” replied Starkey."

Remote learning is a struggle for every student but immigrant and refugee students face additional barriers due to technology and language accessibility. Your gifts to our annual fund help our interpreting and translation department translate materials and break language barriers for the non-native English speakers in our community, donate today: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/international-institute-of-buffalo-inc

Making Western New York a better place for, and because of, refugees and immigrants. The International Institute of Buffalo has worked to integrate foreign born Weste...

12/17/2020

Last week, some of our staff attended the Department of State's virtual reception entitled, “My IVLP Moment.” The virtual event closed the yearlong 80th anniversary celebration of the IVLP and highlighted opportunities to increase connections between the United States and other countries.

The program featured opening remarks by Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce and special video remarks from former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and IVLP alumnus Tony Blair.

With over 225,000 alumni, the program continues to build vital linkages that benefit both the U.S. and IVLP participants’ home countries. We are proud to partner with the the Department of State to bring International Visitors from across the globe to Buffalo!

Every gift given to our Annual Fund helps to us to grow these global connections, diversifying the knowledge and strengthening the ties of our community. Make a donation to our annual fund today: https://buff.ly/3lA31Fe