Jewish Family Services to enter into contract with NYC to support asylum seekers

It's a new effort to better assimilate asylum seekers into our Western New York communities.

Jewish Family Services (JFS) announced Wednesday its intent to enter into a $22.4 million contract with New York City to manage a coordinated entry program for asylum seekers currently in Erie County.

"This is our opportunity to write the next chapter of American immigration," said Molly Carr, President and CEO of Jewish Family Services of Western New York. "We are not here to solve the migrant crisis, we are here to help manage and alleviate the crisis,"

The program will offer critical services to the 539 asylum seekers brought in from New York City last year.

JFS said the contract is anticipated to start in the summer and it will begin screening asylees to enroll them as clients in the program and they must have a path to a more permanent legal immigration status.

According to JFS, the goal is to get them out of the hotels they currently live in, two in Cheektowaga and one in Amherst, and into more stable housing.

The intent is to rent apartments throughout Western New York and JFS said it anticipates the majority will be placed in housing by the end of the year or first quarter of 2025.

"We are not limited in regards to geographic other than we want to make sure people are able to access public transportation," said Carr.

Under the new program, JFS will replace the company DocGo, which was originally contracted to work with asylum seekers in Erie County.

New York State Senator Sean Ryan described the initial arrival of migrants from New York City last year as "chaotic."

"They didn't really think through what's going to happen the month after you put people in a hotel, so this is going to be a coordinated program," said Ryan.

"It's certainly a much more welcome approach than we had to deal with on the intake last year at this time," said Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa.

JFS said the majority of the money for the program comes from direct assistance and not local taxpayer money, and there are no plans to bring in additional asylum seekers from New York City.

"This project, I'm being very clear, is only for those individuals who are currently housed in the hotels, the 539 individuals, nobody else will be admitted into this program," said Carr. "It's not a general population program."

"There are no plans to bring more migrants that are living in New York City out of New York City. They've stopped even the thought of that," said Ryan.

JFS has been providing resettlement services in Western New York since the end of World War II.