Transcript
ZACH NEMIROVSKY: Syracuse is a sanctuary city, meaning that it limits cooperation with federal authorities to protect non-citizens from deportation.
For the past 48 years, Interfaith Works in Central New York has helped refugees settle into Syracuse. President and C-E-O of the nonprofit, Beth Broadway, says this designation is less of a legality and more of a philosophy.
BETH BROADWAY: The concept of a sanctuary city, is really about being a place where we affirm that people have something to contribute no matter where they come from.
NEMIROVSKY: Part of the resettlement process is helping refugees find housing and a job, of which Interfaith Works does both.
Stickley Furniture is one of the 150 businesses here in Central New York that Interfaith Works partners with. President and CEO of the company, Aminy Audi says over the last 40 years they’ve employed thousands of refugees.
AMINY AUDI: We have people from- at one point we had people from 38 nationalities working side by side.
NEMIROVSKY: In the cafeteria flags of every refugees home country is displayed on the wall. To workers like Lai this recognition of nationality means a lot. Stickley was the first company to employ him when he immigrated to the U-S 20 years ago.
LAI NUGYEN: I grew up under this roof, I started a family – everything. I didn’t have anything. So this building helped me grow up.
NEMIROVSKY: Aminy says that as a result of the humanitarian effort at Interfaith Works, the workforce at Stickley is a beautiful mosaic of multicultural people.
AUDI: I think it enriches our lives. We celebrate the diversity.
NEMIROVSKY: Zach Nemirovsky N-C-C News
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — For the past 48 years Interfaith Works has provided humanitarian aid to folks in Central New York.
Coincidentally also 48 years ago, Stickley Furniture in Manlius hired its first refugee employee: a man from Laos.
“Our first refugee came to us not through an organized way, but through our church,” said Aminy Audi, president and CEO of Stickley. “When our minister said we need to find a job for the father, Alfred and I looked at each other and said we can offer him a job.”
Refugees currently make up 50% of the workforce of Stickley, at one point representing 38 different nationalities.
To honor this diverse background of individuals, flags from the home country of every work are displayed in the cafeteria.
Stickley is one of the 150 businesses in Central New York that Interfaith Works partners with to employ refugees. The main reason why Stickley has so many refugees working for them is because of Syracuse’s designation as a sanctuary city.
Legally speaking, this designation means the city limits cooperation with federal authorities to protect non-citizens from deportation.
“The concept of a sanctuary city, not just the legalities of it, is really about being a place where we affirm that people have something to contribute, no matter where they come from,” said Beth Broadway, president and CEO of Interfaith Works.
Interfaith Works helps refugees establish a new life in the city by providing them with a one time stipend of $1100, housing, and food.
Broadway estimates the organization will help roughly 875 people resettle in Syracuse this year.
“When I came to Stickley, Alfred asked me if I spoke any English,” said Lai Nguyen, a refugee from Vietnam who has worked at Stickley for the past 20 years. “I said no, but showed him my hands and said I have these.”
When Lai was being trained on how to varnish the wood, he couldn’t understand what was being said to him, but now, 20 years later, he says he has trained the very person who first taught him the skills.
Some workers even serve as translators on the warehouse floor to help communicate between employees with a language barrier.
“The [diversity] adds so much to the culture at Stickley,” added Audi. “I think it enriches our lives. We celebrate the diversity and it’s something that I will say to everyone, please don’t be afraid of it.”