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Dear John,
As this pandemic continues, I am reminded of how much our members and our immigrant communities are struggling each and every day to survive these uncertain times.
Last week, our member organization, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) and the day laborers it supports, were featured in a New York Times editorial and report on the impact of this crisis on immigrants in New York.
The stories reveal that people of color, and especially Latinos are dying at the highest rate of any racial group throughout the city, while nearly 50% of them are facing job losses or reduced pay across the country due to COVID-19. So many of New York’s immigrants continue to risk their lives to serve as essential workers - delivering meals, deep-cleaning infected facilities, and driving patients to hospitals. Many more have simply lost their jobs, and the virus has wreaked destruction and death amongst immigrant communities.
But while immigrants are on the front lines of this crisis, they are being left out in the cold when it comes to relief. In fact, as some of us receive stimulus checks this month, not a single dime will go to the millions of undocumented immigrant neighbors on the frontlines of this pandemic struggling to keep their families healthy and fed. Our coalition members are scrambling to meet the needs of their low-income communities hardest hit by this crisis—packing and delivering boxes of food to community members in need, like NICE is doing, while others are trying to find support for immigrant families who can’t pay their rent anymore or who have lost a breadwinner during this crisis.
Our NY United Fund is launching fund-raising efforts at an unprecedented scale to fill our communities’ needs—but we need your help to even more immigrant New Yorkers.
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