A committee recently formed to address local immigrant population issues held its first meeting Monday morning in the Rath Building.
Members of Erie County's New Americans Committee spent most of the time in their inaugural gathering simply getting to know each other, as they prepare to take on the task of advising the county on immigrant and refugee issues.
"It's representatives of immigrant groups advising the county of how we can better serve our constituents,"said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who announced the creation of this committee last year. "It's also us informing those individuals of the services we provide. One thing I learned here today is that county government can be overwhelming. People don't understand all the services that we provide. So we need to get that information out and we will do that, not only today but in upcoming meetings, so representatives understand the services we provide."
Language issues remain a top concern. Poloncarz pointed to the example of the 911 system. Those calling 911 on a cell phone, he explained, access the county's emergency services, which provide translation when needed. However, the system is being updated after it was observed that callers trying to explain that they speak Karen instead were led to automatically led by the computer to instructions in Korean.
"We realized that wouldn't work so we canceled out that contract and are now working with live individuals," Poloncarz said.
While ensuring that immigrants are taking advantage of available services is a goal of the county, members of the committee are also recognizing that they don't want to create an environment where immigrants simply depend on the system.
One of the committee members says immigrants coming to America and starting again are bringing a will to work and become productive citizens, but they often need some guidance and encouragement at first.
"What we're seeing is that when you're in an environment that doesn't foster education, there's not a lot of jobs, that there's a dependency and people sort of give up," said Gamileh Jamil, executive director of ACCESS WNY. "That's where our organization believes in planting seeds, mustard seeds of literacy, education, and supportive services for parents and families."
Jamil told the panel that what new arrivals to Buffalo need some guidance but, with that initial encouragement, can become the same productive citizens that previous generations of immigrants proved to be.
She likened it to giving out fish, when it would be more ideal to guide them to the water so that they may catch their own.
Poloncarz says the county is not seeking to replace any existing agencies that serve immigrant and refigee populations. Some of those agencies are represented on the committee, which was created as part of the Poloncarz Administration's Initiatives for a Stronger Community plan.
