Just Conversations | Making NYC Home: The Trials and Triumphs of Asylum Seekers and Migrants
About Just Conversations
Just Conversations is a series co-presented by the Center for Brooklyn History and Brooklyn Org that brings into dialogue issues facing our borough, city, and society and gives voice to the change makers who move us towards a more equitable future. Tonight we are joined by program partner, Documented.
More than 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. They come from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond. Their stories drive the non-profit news site Documented, which is devoted to covering New York City’s immigrants and the policies that affect their lives. Join the Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Org, and Documented for a deep dive into the reality of New York’s newest newcomers, as we delve into the experiences of recently arrived asylum seekers and migrants navigating the complexities of building a new life in New York. Fisayo Okare, Documented's newsletter writer and host of the Immigrant News Roundup show on WBAI radio, moderates a conversation with New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés, who chairs the Committee on Immigration; Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Documented’s immigration reporter; Rommel H. Ojeda, Documented’s community correspondent who covers Spanish-speaking immigrants; and Mihad Abdallah, who sought asylum in NYC from Sudan in 2017. Join a live poll (for those who have What’s App) and stay for a reception following the program, to continue the conversation informally.
Images courtesy of Documented
Participants
Mihad Abdallah (pen name - Ivana Mousa) was born in Sudan. Thanks in part to the relentless efforts of her mother, she was the first in her family to study and became a recognized journalist in Sudan and then South Sudan, working with Sudan TV, Blue Nile TV, 94 Radio South Sudan, Radio Miraya, and the UN mission in South Sudan as a public information officer, photographer, news writer and radio reporter, gaining awards and recognition for her work on women's power, gender inequality, and the untold stories by women in displaced persons camps. She came to New York seeking asylum in 2017 with her son, and while pregnant, and started again - seeking housing, work, community and stability. Today, she lives with her family in Brooklyn and works as a senior case manager at the Arab American Family Support Center.
Alexa Avilés is a second-term, New York City Council Member living in Sunset Park. Alexa currently serves as the Council Chair of the Committee on Immigration and is a proud democratic socialist. She was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Before her time in the City Council, Alexa’s career spanned almost three decades in the not-for-profit and philanthropic sectors. Most recently, Alexa served as Program Director at the Scherman Foundation, where she supported local and national social justice organizations that included work to protect human rights, autonomy, and dignity of all people. For nearly a decade, Alexa also served as PTA President at PS 172, partnering with parents, staff and students to improve academic and recreational programs.
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio is an immigration reporter for Documented, where she focuses on covering the communities of asylum seekers that have arrived in New York in recent years, and the policies that affect them. She also reports on other topics, including immigration courts and detention.
Prior to joining Documented, she was a national reporting fellow for The New York Times, writing about COVID-19, the pandemic’s effect on education, and extreme weather among other stories. McDonnell Nieto del Rio also covered breaking news as an intern for her hometown paper, The Los Angeles Times. She is fluent in Spanish, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where she majored in history. She focused on immigration reporting while earning her master’s from Columbia Journalism School. She has also worked for CNN in New York and Washington D.C.
Rommel H. Ojeda is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in New York City. He is the Community Correspondent at Documented, focusing on topics affecting the Spanish-speaking Latinx immigrant communities in New York. His works can be seen on Univision, Telemundo, and in The City, and others news outlets. He holds a master’s degree in Bilingual Journalism, with a specialization in Documentary Filmmaking from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Rommel is the author of several powerful investigations that Documented has recently published.
Fisayo Okare is a journalist based in New York. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School in New York, and earned first class honors in Mass Communication for her bachelor’s degree from Pan-Atlantic University, home to Lagos Business School in Nigeria. She is renowned for her dedication to excellence and passion for storytelling. At Documented, Fisayo writes the flagship newsletter "Early Arrival," and is the lead on special projects including "Our City,” an interview series where she speaks to prominent and influential New Yorkers who have deep connections to New York's immigrant communities, some of whom are immigrants themselves. She also hosted and produced "Documented’s Immigration News Roundup" on WBAI 99.5 FM radio.
About Just Conversations
Just Conversations is a series co-presented by the Center for Brooklyn History and Brooklyn Org that brings into dialogue issues facing our borough, city, and society and gives voice to the change makers who move us towards a more equitable future. Tonight we are joined by program partner, Documented.
More than 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. They come from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond. Their stories drive the non-profit news site Documented, which is devoted to covering New York City’s immigrants and the policies that affect their lives. Join the Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Org, and Documented for a deep dive into the reality of New York’s newest newcomers, as we delve into the experiences of recently arrived asylum seekers and migrants navigating the complexities of building a new life in New York. Fisayo Okare, Documented's newsletter writer and host of the Immigrant News Roundup show on WBAI radio, moderates a conversation with New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés, who chairs the Committee on Immigration; Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Documented’s immigration reporter; Rommel H. Ojeda, Documented’s community correspondent who covers Spanish-speaking immigrants; and Mihad Abdallah, who sought asylum in NYC from Sudan in 2017. Join a live poll (for those who have What’s App) and stay for a reception following the program, to continue the conversation informally.
Images courtesy of Documented
Participants
Mihad Abdallah (pen name - Ivana Mousa) was born in Sudan. Thanks in part to the relentless efforts of her mother, she was the first in her family to study and became a recognized journalist in Sudan and then South Sudan, working with Sudan TV, Blue Nile TV, 94 Radio South Sudan, Radio Miraya, and the UN mission in South Sudan as a public information officer, photographer, news writer and radio reporter, gaining awards and recognition for her work on women's power, gender inequality, and the untold stories by women in displaced persons camps. She came to New York seeking asylum in 2017 with her son, and while pregnant, and started again - seeking housing, work, community and stability. Today, she lives with her family in Brooklyn and works as a senior case manager at the Arab American Family Support Center.
Alexa Avilés is a second-term, New York City Council Member living in Sunset Park. Alexa currently serves as the Council Chair of the Committee on Immigration and is a proud democratic socialist. She was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Before her time in the City Council, Alexa’s career spanned almost three decades in the not-for-profit and philanthropic sectors. Most recently, Alexa served as Program Director at the Scherman Foundation, where she supported local and national social justice organizations that included work to protect human rights, autonomy, and dignity of all people. For nearly a decade, Alexa also served as PTA President at PS 172, partnering with parents, staff and students to improve academic and recreational programs.
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio is an immigration reporter for Documented, where she focuses on covering the communities of asylum seekers that have arrived in New York in recent years, and the policies that affect them. She also reports on other topics, including immigration courts and detention.
Prior to joining Documented, she was a national reporting fellow for The New York Times, writing about COVID-19, the pandemic’s effect on education, and extreme weather among other stories. McDonnell Nieto del Rio also covered breaking news as an intern for her hometown paper, The Los Angeles Times. She is fluent in Spanish, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where she majored in history. She focused on immigration reporting while earning her master’s from Columbia Journalism School. She has also worked for CNN in New York and Washington D.C.
Rommel H. Ojeda is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in New York City. He is the Community Correspondent at Documented, focusing on topics affecting the Spanish-speaking Latinx immigrant communities in New York. His works can be seen on Univision, Telemundo, and in The City, and others news outlets. He holds a master’s degree in Bilingual Journalism, with a specialization in Documentary Filmmaking from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Rommel is the author of several powerful investigations that Documented has recently published.
Fisayo Okare is a journalist based in New York. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School in New York, and earned first class honors in Mass Communication for her bachelor’s degree from Pan-Atlantic University, home to Lagos Business School in Nigeria. She is renowned for her dedication to excellence and passion for storytelling. At Documented, Fisayo writes the flagship newsletter "Early Arrival," and is the lead on special projects including "Our City,” an interview series where she speaks to prominent and influential New Yorkers who have deep connections to New York's immigrant communities, some of whom are immigrants themselves. She also hosted and produced "Documented’s Immigration News Roundup" on WBAI 99.5 FM radio.
Brooklyn Public Library - Center for Brooklyn History MM/DD/YYYY 60