Looking Back on 2025

This time last year, we already knew that family separations, mass deportations, and the rollback of basic immigration protections were on the horizon. While many of our immigrant neighbors' fears were unfortunately realized as 2025 progressed, CIANA never missed a beat in responding to the ongoing crisis.

Here are some highlights of this past year:

• 1,500 total clients served

• 11,000 total services provided

• 7,000 individuals engaged at outreach events

• 50 volunteers and interns recruited

Stay posted for our annual report to see our full impact in 2025.

In January, just as Trump took office, we began holding Know Your Rights workshops across New York City, where we educated over 400 community members on the immigration process and on handling potential encounters with ICE. We continued visiting asylum seeker shelters before they were shut down to connect residents with resources. We advocated for city- and statewide legislation and budget proposals that aim to protect immigrants and include them in funding for essential services.

CIANA was directly impacted by some of the new administration’s policies as well. Due to federal budget cuts to AmeriCorps, we temporarily lost our NYIC VISTA Grantwriter and our NYC Civic Corps Volunteer Coordinator. Fortunately, funding for citywide AmeriCorps programs was restored in September, and we are proud to currently host two new NYC Civic Corps Members.

This was a year of growth and transition at CIANA. In June, we said goodbye to Venus Alfaro, our long-time Program Manager, and welcomed new staff. In July, we became a Legal Support Center in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), allowing us to grow our legal team and take on more complex immigration cases in order to meet the urgent needs of our community.

We educated public school parents on how to access resources from their children’s schools in their native languages in partnership with the Office of Language Access. We formed new partnerships with 82nd Street Academics and the WholeYouNYC Social Care Network, led by Public Health Solutions, that we hope to build on in the new year.

All of this was in addition to our usual programs and services: our adult English and Civics classes, afterschool homework help, and case management assistance.

As of January 1, Zohran Mamdani is the new Mayor of New York City. An immigrant himself and an Assembly Member representing Astoria, Mamdani is a long-time supporter of immigrant causes. We are proud that our CEO, Emira Habiby Browne, is serving on his transition team as part of the Committee on Immigrant Justice. While none of the difficulties of the past year will magically go away, we are confident that under Mamdani's leadership, New York City will stand up to the president's anti-immigrant policies.

2026 marks 20 years since CIANA was founded. In that time, we have helped our clients through many challenges– financial crises, natural disasters, and COVID, just to name a few. With that in mind, we are prepared for the challenges that will inevitably arise in the new year.

We wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!