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'We Have Your Back:' Queens Library to Immigrant Community

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | February 3, 2017 4:12pm | Updated on February 6, 2017 8:46am
 The Queens Library serves numerous immigrants.
The Queens Library serves numerous immigrants.
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Queens Library

QUEENS — In the aftermath of President Donald Trump's refugee ban restricting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countriesthe Queens Library wants to send a clear message to its immigrant patrons: "we have your back."

The library serves a population of 2.3 million people, at least 48 percent of whom were born abroad, the library said.

“We hope to show the public that the conversation about immigration policy is a conversation about people’s lives, not politics,” said Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott during an event Friday at the Central Library in downtown Jamaica.

The event, which gathered local residents, elected officials and organizations working with immigrants, also featured a number of workshops for immigrants, offered by the city's Commission on Human Rights, the Queens Legal Services and the Anti-Violence Project.

“We also want to show Queens Library’s support for the immigrant community and make it clear we are here to help them succeed,” Walcott said.

Each year, thousands of immigrants participate in the library’s programs, including English classes, citizenship services, know-your-rights workshops, coping skills, literacy classes, computer lessons and job search assistance, the library said.

“The first place I walked into after coming to New York was this library,” said Mashyat Tomory, an immigrant from Bangladesh who takes English classes at the Central Library.

“When I came in here ... I didn’t know how to sign up for a job, I didn’t know how to sign up for a class, but I got that here."

Tomory said she used the library to look for a job, learn English, take high school equivalency classes and to apply for college.

"It’s been my safe haven," she said. "It’s the platform that’s introduced me to New York and New York to me.”

The library also set aside space on a wall where attendees placed post it notes saying why they came to the event. (Courtesy of the Queens Library)

Walcott also said that the main role of the library is to "provide the information." 

“We are here to work with them, to provide that sanctuary, that safe haven, that information source," he said.