The challenges that plague immigrant communities throughout New York City are constantly changing. Once one chapter of immigrant life closes, another begins yet city, state, and federal governments have historically been unable to provide new immigrants with direct services either upon their arrival or after. There exists no “Welcome to America” center that has acted as a clearinghouse of information or services for new Americans.
Immigrants are relegated to rely on whatever resources are available to them, which are usually comprised of memberships to local religious institutions, to attempt to integrate themselves into the economic, political, and social aspects of American society.
Religious institutions serving the newer NYC immigrant communities in under-developed communities, however, have been unable to successfully help meet the needs of their community, where these immigrant communities rely almost exclusively on such organizations for community support.
The South Asian immigrant community, in particular, is one group of new NYC immigrants that has fallen into this pattern. There exist throughout NYC, large concentrations of South Asian immigrants in areas such as Richmond Hill, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, etc… As a result the prosperity of such neighborhoods depends on the prosperity of its population. As immigrant families continue to settle their roots and branch off into different aspects of American life, the need to develop and empower their communities also increases.
