Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment (RISE) opened the doors to their Buffalo location in May of 2021, but due to the pandemic never officially held a grand opening – until now. The refugee-led organization celebrated its ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday with food, vendors, and music in an effort to get the word out to service providers such as city officials and public schools on how to best service the resettled refugee population. Haji Adan, former refugee and executive director of RISE for NY State, said that they help both sides communicate important information in an easier way.
“For refugees if they are struggling, whether it is a housing issue, whether it is access to Department of Social Services, or issues with city school district, or healthcare, whatever you can call it. So we tell them, 'This is where you can go for mental health, this is what you can do for behavioral health, this is what you can do for getting employment opportunities.' That’s our job, to make sure people have access to opportunities,” said Adan.
RISE employees speak a combination of over 30 languages, and serve people from over 30 countries from Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. They are available for help over the phone or in person. RISE Care Manager Magane Ali came to the US in 2004 with her family from Somalia. She says that people come to them for many different things, some as simple as reading a letter in their own language.
“They come in, we help them read and translate it so they know what’s going on with the letter, so they’re not, you know, looking at or writing something wrong down, and we help them write that out, all of that. So it’s been helpful, I feel like [RISE] is giving back to the community, since we were struggling back there in the camps and in the other countries that we were at, and Somalia which is still, you know, it’s not a safe place,” said Ali.
United Healthcare’s State Director of Sales and Growth Jason Isbrandt announced at the ceremony that they will be awarding RISE a $100,000 grant in support of all they continue to do for the resettled refugee community.