Behind the Headlines

Immigrants and refugees are often in the news. It can feel overwhelming. UIDN hopes the stories on this page will help readers see behind the headlines to the very real people who are becoming part of our community.

Your Giving Tuesday contribution is a welcoming gesture of support and will help UIDN to continue serving our friends and neighbors. Thank you!

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REYNA and members of her extended family came from Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico earlier this year.

“My fear was great due to so much insecurity in my country and in the place where I lived with my children.”

The family had no place to live when they first arrived so UIDN and the United Way quickly identified an apartment and helped with the first two months of rent.

Since then, Reyna has become a founding member of UIDN’s first worker co-op, Blooming Queens of Clean.

JM (not his real name) traveled to the U.S. from Venezuela with his parents and younger brother. For two months and thousands of miles, he traveled on foot and by bus wearing a colostomy bag.

UIDN arranged for the 12-year-old to see a pediatric surgeon in Albany. The doctor believes JM’s situation can be improved.

JM and his brother are enrolled in the Kingston City Schools and doing well. Friends also helped UIDN find the family an apartment and start on their asylum applications.

Where your contributions go

UIDN is more and more focused on pathways to self-sufficiency, empowerment, and economic mobility including creating training and development. That’s why we’re so excited about the cleaning co-op Reyna helped start. Still, with the high cost of living in our area, we continue to help meet immigrants’ basic needs. For  examples of the kinds of support UIDN provides, go back a page.

Alfredo, a Guatemalan Kek’chi carpenter and farm worker, arrived this summer, joining his sister’s family. She has nearly completed her asylum case — a strong one involving the murder of family members — and Alfredo (not his real name) will file a similar case. Before school started, he pounded the pavement looking for work, his 12-year-old niece interpreting for him.

He has picked up some day labor by standing on Broadway and through UIDN just secured a few days’ work near Woodstock but needs a regular job to repay the thousands of dollars he borrowed to get here and to cover legal fees for his asylum claim as well as food and rent.

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SHADOW PHOTO by Sumesh Dugar, used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. PLANING PHOTO by KelvinJM, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Join UIDN for Giving Tuesday, November 28Facts Behind the Headlines