REPRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING!

“If There is No Seat at the Table, We Bring a Chair.”

That was how it all started, the need to be heard, the need to represent our constituents, the need to represent our community, the need to represent the African immigrant community in NYC and the need to give voice to the larger immigrant community and the underrepresented. The COVID-19 pandemic did not discriminate but it is an opportunistic virus that attacked the most vulnerable — socio-economically —demarcated by zip codes across America.

The COVID-19 pandemic was one occurrence in our lifetime that instantaneously collapsed the gap between the haves and have-nots. It compelled us to appreciate how interdependent we all are and how much we needed one another. The work that led me to the nonprofit Welcome To America (W2A) started after 9/11 welcome2america.org/mission and I have not looked back since.

One of the revelations of the COVID-19 pandemic is the crucial necessity of grassroots organizations such as W2A as first responders. We know our community best. As immigrants, we have shared interest and experiences, we are multilingual, we are women, we are parents or single-parent, we are women and mothers, we are community leaders and stakeholders, we are trusted partners and more. Most importantly, we love our community and we want to give back. It is in this vein that we continue our efforts to empower the immigrant community, our constituents by educating them on the array of services and opportunities that are available to them so they can make informed decisions for their families.