New Neighbors Partnership

Last week, New Neighbors was awarded the 2024 Community Partner Award from Human Rights First -- an international organization and one of our partners that helps us identify asylum-seeking families who would most benefit from our program. Together we've collaborated to support 165 individuals from more than a dozen countries including Libya, El Salvador, Chad, and Nepal. We’re so grateful for their partnership and their recognition of the community support network we help our new neighbors build. ✨ #Partnership #refugeeswelcome #community

Today, on #WorldRefugeeDay, we celebrate the talent of our new neighbors who have so many skills to share. At New Neighbors, we frequently hire refugee community members — including the event photographers at our upcoming Summer Welcome Party! This World Refugee Day, all donations will go directly to compensating refugee community members for the skills and talents they share with us. So many newcomers struggle to find work when they arrive. Your contributions will help us create employment opportunities that celebrate newcomers’ talents and empower refugees to support their families by compensating them for their time and skills. Donate here: https://lnkd.in/eQUx_KKz And if you want beautiful photographs like these, reach out to talented photographer couple Paula & Alex: [email protected]

Thank you to the Taproot Foundation for inviting me to the U.S. Pro Bono Summit to join the opening panel and chat about skills-based volunteering (SBV)/pro bono from the nonprofit perspective! It was a pleasure to talk to Kimberly Swartz, Judi Desire, and Jack Cooley, and I was honored to spend the day among so many innovators and leaders driving social impact ⚡

New Neighbors has an incredible team of compassionate, talented, hard-working staff. They hail from five continents and speak 20 languages, bringing advanced degrees from across the world and skillsets that are essential to our work. We're thrilled to share news of three recent promotions: khadija kakar has been promoted to Senior Program Coordinator, taking on the responsibility of developing and leading initiatives such as our Marhaban Ramadan program in addition to her client-service work Andrea Yarad is taking on an Operations Manager role in addition to her client-facing work to help us make operations as efficient and effective as possible, and to develop, implement, and maintain quality assurance protocols and internal metrics tracking Jessica Aung is moving to the role of Development Associate, working to help us build partnerships and share the story of our impact and community Congratulations to the amazing team!

We're so grateful for the companies that partner with us to create a more welcoming community. This Mother's Day, when you shop Malabar Baby using the code KINDNESS, you'll help ensure refugee mamas in our community (including a woman from Afghanistan expecting twins!) have the supplies they need to give their babies a strong start in their new home. Malabar Baby has been an incredible partner to New Neighbors for the last three years, and we're so grateful for their commitment to making sure the new moms in our community have access to their beautiful products made from sustainably-sourced natural Indian cotton fabrics and decorated with traditional artisanal craftsmanship and hand-block printing. https://malabarbaby.com/

Huge thanks to the incredible volunteer team from Accenture for partnering with us to collect supplies and create mothers day packages for refugee moms in our community & thanks to incredible organizers Rutba Shivani and Aminatou Abdoulaye, Certified Scrum Master and the entire Refugee ERG at Accenture for making this initiative so successful. Many women in our community become moms in a new country where they don’t know anyone, have no family support, aren’t familiar with the medical system or the language in which they're receiving care. It can be a profoundly isolating experience. These personalized Mothers Day care packages — filled with essential supplies (as well as some gifts for mom!) — will not only fill needs but help our new neighbors feel welcomed and cared for in their new home. 💕 *Shoutout to our partner, Welcome.US, and Ilana Miller for facilitating this partnership and making it possible for more folks to help welcome our new neighbors!

If you haven't had a chance, please check out our beautiful 2023 impact report to learn more about our new neighbors and the warm welcome and community network we provide for families with young children resettling in New York City. https://lnkd.in/eYk_f2wJ

The long-term, sustainable community support network we help newcomers build means so much to refugee families. Here's a note of appreciation from one of our new neighbors, a single mom from Ukraine: “I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to New Neighbors Partnership for the incredible support and warmth they've extended to our family. Since becoming a part of this community, we have experienced genuine kindness and open hearts that have made our transition immensely smoother. The connections we've formed go beyond just neighbors – we've found real friends who have shared their love generously. I am especially grateful for the thoughtful gesture of providing clothes, books, and toys for my son. This made a significant impact on our family. New Neighbors Partnership has truly made a positive difference in our lives, fostering a sense of belonging and friendship. Thank you for creating a welcoming and supportive environment that goes beyond the traditional definition of neighbors.” ✨

That's a wrap on our spring community welcome dinners (more to come this fall!). Throughout our monthly dinners, we brought together more than 150 community members to welcome newcomer refugee families from Afghanistan, Honduras, Guatemala, Ukraine, Colombia, Chad, and elsewhere. These family-friendly dinners are an amazing way for newcomers to connect with other members of the community and share their culture. We were so happy to be able to provide a warm welcome to our new neighbors, share delicious food, and make new friends ✨ Huge thanks to: 🙋🏼♂️ The Service Collective volunteers for putting in so much effort to make sure these dinners were a welcoming space for all new neighbors 🍽 Burlap and Barrel: Single Origin Spices for sharing their Afghan cumin with our new neighbors to give families from Afghanistan a taste of home 🏙 Council Member lincoln restler for joining our April dinner and taking the time to listen to our newest neighbors

I am thrilled to share that I will be part of the opening panel at the 2024 U.S. Pro Bono Summit hosted by Taproot Foundation in NYC next week! The panel will focus on how nonprofit organizations benefit from pro bono resources. I'm excited to join partners from corporate, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors for a deep dive into how we can strengthen the pro bono community and build the future of skills-based volunteering. Taproot will share key takeaways and insights from the event, so stay tuned! #PBSummit2024