FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2020

Media Contact: Dallas Taylor
Content Associate, Corporate Communications
(716) 845.7000 x192 • dtaylor@wned.org

WNED PBS to Air Making Buffalo Home: Immigration in a Welcoming City

At a time when the country wrestles with the issue of immigration, the city of Buffalo takes the stance that it is, and will remain, a welcoming place. What does that mean? In what ways have policies been shaped to support this idea in government and housing, language access, and economic development? “Making Buffalo Home: Immigration in a Welcoming City,” the second television program in the Making Buffalo Home project, attempts to answer these questions. The special will air on Friday, April 24 at 9 pm on WNED PBS, Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s station.

Host Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director at the Partnership for the Public Good, welcomes guests from city government, an anti-housing discrimination group, academia, and members of the immigrant community for an engaging conversation on the topic.

Featured on the program are Mustaffa Aahangaran; Diane Bessel, Ph. D; DeAnna Eason; Jessica Lazarin; Ba Zan Lin; and Fidele Menavanza. Aahangaran was among the thousands of Afghan interpreters who received a Special Immigrant Visa because of his work with the US Armed Forces in the fight against the Taliban. He and his family resettled in Buffalo, NY in 2016. Bessel is an assistant professor of social work and the MSW program director at Daemen College. She also served on the team who collected and studied the data used in the City of Buffalo’s New American Study in 2016.

Eason is the executive director of H.O.M.E., Housing Opportunities Made Equal. HOME provides comprehensive services for victims of housing discrimination, and advocates for safe and affordable housing in Buffalo. Lazarin is the deputy counsel for the city of Buffalo Law Department and concurrently serves as director of the city of Buffalo Office of New Americans, an office established by Mayor Byron W. Brown in April 2015. Originally from Burma, Zan Lin is an active community leader in Buffalo, serving on the Board of Directors of Burmese Community Services and Partnership for the Public Good. Menavanza arrived in Buffalo in 2011 from Democratic Republic of Congo, where he successfully practiced law and spoke five different languages. Today, he speaks English, is a recent graduate of the UB School of Law, and works as a paralegal at the Center for Elder Law & Justice.

Making Buffalo Home is a two-year long in-depth digital engagement initiative. The project aims to help the region develop a better understanding of the shared opportunities and challenges we face together as long-time residents and new immigrants and refugees. It incorporates digital videos, Facebook Live events, and television specials. For more information on the Making Buffalo Home project, visit https://www.wned.org/community/makingbuffalohome/.

Making Buffalo Home is funded by Rich Products Corporation and the Rich Family Foundation.

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