Supporting Immigrants to Thrive in New York StateThe New York State Office for New Americans
New York State prides itself in its diversity and is home to 4.4 million immigrants. New York State supports immigrants to thrive through the creation of the first in the nation Office for New Americans (ONA) in 2012. For over a decade, ONA has welcomed and assisted immigrants through its statewide network of community-based providers. ONA assists all immigrants, irrespective of their immigration status, in accessing and navigating a variety of free services and supports their inclusion as an integral part of New York State’s diverse cultural fabric.
Immigrants with developmental disabilities (DD) are a community that face additional barriers to accessing vital services and employment opportunities. March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM). DDAM celebrates the DD community and supports their inclusion in all facets of community living while raising awareness for the barriers people with disabilities still face. As the Office for New Americans grew, its team discovered the urgent need to assist immigrants to access DD services.
Since 2019, ONA’s Ramirez June Initiative, a first-of its kind in the nation, builds capacity to support immigrants with DD and their families through outreach, creating multilingual resources, and building partnerships. The Initiative launched as a 5-year pilot project funded by the NYS Council on Developmental Disabilities (CDD). Achievements of the Initiative include engaging 3,523 participants through 115 workshops on disability information for service providers and multilingual immigrant communities. The ONA Ramirez June initiative continues to grow and support immigrants with developmental disabilities and their families.
Learn More About ONA's Free and Confidential Services
English Language Learning
Opportunity Centers - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) are community-based organizations that provide free English language training with a workforce component.
Cell-Ed is a free and confidential English-language learning program for all language levels available on any type of mobile device.
Workforce Development
The New Americans Can Code initiative provides free basic digital literacy training for immigrants as well as more advanced software coding training. The Professional Pathways program connects high skilled immigrant job seekers with local ONA Job Coaches, as well as support from a statewide Lead Agency.
Legal Services
Legal Counsel provides free legal services and direct representation to immigrants, regular legal consultation days at ONA Opportunity Centers and law-related workshops and trainings, including Know Your Rights.
ONA funds several Special Initiative Immigration Legal Services including the Upstate Immigration Court/New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, the ONA Pro Bono Program, the NYC Rapid Response Legal Collaborative, NY Legal Response to New Arrivals, DOJ Trainer and the Afghan Legal Assistance Program.
Citizenshipworks is a free online tool where new Americans can apply for citizenship easily and securely, either through their local ONA Opportunity Center, or with assistance from a "virtual" attorney.
And More!
Connect with ONA’s Ramirez June Initiative
If you would like to host multilingual outreach for immigrant families and service providers connect with the ONA Ramirez June Initiative, contact: NewAmericans@dos.ny.gov.
Call the New Americans Hotline
To confidentially connect with free NYS immigrant services, including ONA's services, contact the New Americans Hotline at 1-800-566-7636, (Mon.-Fri.; 9am-8pm). Callers can access answers to immigration and naturalization questions, receive referrals to free legal help and programs, obtain information about nearby Opportunity Centers, and report fraud or scams against immigrant communities, and more.