Caítlín introduced this week’s guest speaker, Momina DiBlasio. Momina manages the New Neighbors Coalition program housed at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Momina has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from George Mason University and a Master of Public Administration from State University of New York Brockport. Currently, she serves on the Education Solution Team of the Chautauqua County Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Coalition (IDEA), and was a mayor-appointed member of the City of Jamestown Commission on Human Rights from November 2020 to November 2023. Momina and her spouse moved to the northside of Jamestown from Northern Virginia in 2020. She is so grateful to have found her way to this tight-knit community and looks forward to their future in Western New York, with their three dogs, forever the objects of her undying adoration.
In her role with the New Neighbors Coalition, Momina feels a strong commitment to advocating for and supporting marginalized individuals, across all spaces, in a way that is rooted in intersectionality and inclusivity. As an immigrant with firsthand experience regarding the challenges non-American born individuals may face, her passion lies with promoting language-accessibility, pushing for immigrant equity, and advocating for cultural humility in her professional and personal life.
In providing details about the coalition and its support programming, she explained how the coalition was created in 2022, serving as a continuation of the Journey's End Program, which offers assistance in the greater Buffalo area, along with other areas of Western New York. She said that since 2022, the coalition has assisted 125 individuals who've resettled in the Jamestown area. These "new neighbors" come primarily from Democratic Republic of Congo, Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. She added that these individuals are Asylum seekers from other countries, not those who are undocumented. She also indicated that all funding for the coalition programming comes from the NYS Office of New Americans Immigrant Resource Program Grant.
The key responsibilities of the coalition include volunteer coordination, providing necessary and helpful information to new arrivals so they can better navigate within our local community and make appropriate connections, and informing and educating the public on who benefits from the program. Some of the challenges our new neighbors face include language barriers, transportation, housing, employment, adjusting to a new community, healthcare barriers, and interacting with organizations or agencies that are ill-equipped. The coalition works to help overcome these challenges and make it easier for the new neighbors to adjust and assimilate.
Momina also addressed new challenges that have recently surfaced since the new administration took over in Washington. She indicated that refugee resettlement in Jamestown (and mostly nationwide) has stopped due to the administration ending the federal resettlement program. She also indicated that Immigrants in the area are fearful of engaging with us and the wider community. And she said that funding cuts across many sectors will make it more difficult for the coalition to provide direct services or emergency funding. In spite of these new challenges, the coalition remains committed to helping anyone who is new to our community.
She also invited all members to attend an interfaith service at St. Luke's, scheduled for June 20, and which will coincide with World Refugee Day.
