Apr 2, 2022
Submitted photos Pictured from left are Karen M. Andolina Scott, Journey’s End Refugee Services chief executive officer; Buulo Emmanuel, ONA Immigrant Community navigator; Noel De La Rosa, chief program officer; and Wallid Al-jabiri, a local Iraqi refugee.
Jamestown is on the path toward community readiness to accept refugees, according to Journey’s End Refugee Services representatives.
Administrators from the Christian community-based organization that welcomes and serves refugees in the Western New York area visited Jamestown on Thursday for the “Refugees: Who Needs Them?” panel at the Robert H. Jackson Center. The event was held in partnership between Journey’s End and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Luke Fodor of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church said the idea was to invite the community to “engage in a conversation around who refugees are and their experience.”
“It’s a rhetorical question because the answer is — we need them,” Fodor said. “It’s also to help prepare our community to be ready to welcome.”
Karen Andolina Scott, Journey’s End Refugee Services chief executive officer, said a “ready community” is one that can welcome refugees with open arms.
“There’s always going to be challenges around service and access to things, but what makes a community really refugee ready to welcome is that they will treat somebody with humanity, that they don’t see them as an ‘other’ and are really willing to accept and embrace that person,” she said. “Based on the meetings that we’ve had prior to today, but especially for today’s meeting, I think (Jamestown) is really well on its way. We met with a lot of really important stakeholders who are excited. They seem to understand the challenges but are also ready to work on those challenges and meet those challenges with us. I think Jamestown is well on its way.”
Discussion of refugees resettling in the area began in January 2021 with a meeting at St. Luke’s. The gathering included various representatives from local and regional nonprofits and organizations, as well as Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist.
“When we started to see an increase of refugees across the states, we heard a lot of comments, got a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls about ways our community could help and support those refugees,” Sundquist said at the time. “It’s not often that we would see refugees here in the city, but as you all know we are a city built on immigration, built on a melting pot of different people, different ideas. That’s what made us strong many, many years ago and could make us even stronger as we continue.”
The immigration situation across the globe has not improved since the development of a war in Ukraine after Russia invaded in multiple areas of the country in late February. Andolina Scott said the war has not had an immediate impact in the United States but has instead brought attention to the issues refugees face.
“The U.S. is a little bit of time away from potentially resettling Ukrainian refugees, but what that situation really has done is bring refugee issues again to the forefront and put that humanitarian crisis in everybody’s mind,” she said. “We see a lot of people who are reaching out to see how they can support refugees – not only potentially Ukrainian refugees, but refugees in general. It just is in the forefront of everybody’s mind the needs that refugees have.”
Fodor said the group is excited to move forward with the process.
“We’re just excited that Jamestown has an opportunity to strive to be the best community we can be and to really encounter everyone with their full humanity,” he said.
Fodor said area residents can learn more about refugees and their experiences through the Journey’s End film festival, Western New York Refugee Film Festival. The virtual festival is held via Zoom and registration is needed. Each week, a new film centered on the experience of refugees is streamed at 7 p.m. on Thursday. To register, visit wnyrff.org.
For more information on Journey’s End Refugee Services, visit jersbuffalo.org.
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