Ali Kadhum, an organizer for the World Refugee Day Festival in Buffalo, explains how the festival brings communities together through sports, food, and fun.
Originally broadcast live on Facebook in June 2019 as part of Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s Making Buffalo Home project.
Making Buffalo Home is funded by Rich Products Corporation and Rich Family Foundation.
Buffalo Toronto Public Media proudly participated in Buffalo's 10th annual World Refugee Day celebrations in LaSalle Park.
Throughout the day we spoke with committee organizers and attendees. If you’ve never attended, the free event is filled with food, games, art, performances, and a little healthy competition in the form of an international soccer tournament!
It’s all meant to celebrate the different refugee communities that call Western New York home.
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
BT Public Media's Making Buffalo Home
Watch artist and calligrapher Muhammad Zaman incorporate three languages (Bengali, Arabic, and English) into one of his signature creations as part of Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s series, Making Buffalo Home.
Zaman’s calligraphy incorporates words from three languages: Bengali, the language of his birthplace (Bangladesh); Arabic, the language of his religion; and English, the language spoken where Zaman has lived for about a decade and a half. Watch one of his creations come to life as he talks about making Buffalo his home with Shirley Verrico, curator of Buffalo Arts Studio, of which Zaman is a resident artist.
"As an urban artist specializing in calligraphy I've developed a personal style incorporating the different languages that make up my identity," says Zaman. " As a Muslim in the USA I see a lot of negativity towards our tradition but I always look for ways to use my art as a positive message. I was influenced by the artist Elseed and his idea to create unity for people from different backgrounds, ethnicites and religions. My aim is to inspire people to share the same place and learn from each other in harmony and mutual understanding. Although my works contain words in three different languages, there is always at least one recognizable word. This makes the audience curious to ask and decode the message, giving them to a deep connection with my art."
BTPM FACEBOOK LIVE | MAKING BUFFALO HOME
Buffalo Toronto Public Media was live on Facebook with Buffalo urban artist and calligrapher Muhammad Zaman. View the video on this page or watch on Facebook to see the comments.
The number of immigrants and refugees coming to Western New York has dropped drastically. What does that mean for a city like Buffalo?
Buffalo Toronto Public Media’s Making Buffalo Home continues to explore immigration topics that matter to this community and on January 15th, 2019, we held a Facebook live discussion on how immigration impacts our local economy.
In 2018, the Trump administration lowered the national refugee ceiling to 30,000, which has reduced the number of refugees resettling in Western New York. In addition, there’s a growing backlog of immigrations cases waiting to be decided on by the courts. With fewer immigrants and refugees making Buffalo home, and our overall population continuing to decline, what does it mean for our businesses and labor force, our schools, our health care, and our housing market? What impact does it have on our quality of life?
Host, Ba Zan Lin and guests, Eva Hassett from the International Institute of Buffalo and Bruce Fisher, columnist for The Public and economics teacher at Buffalo State College talked about the ways immigration impacts an economy like Buffalo. In 45 minutes they covered a lot of ground. Much of the research and statistical information they referenced can be found at the links to the right of this article. After watching their conversation, you can dig a little deeper into the numbers yourself.
Making Buffalo Home Facebook Live
Buffalo Toronto Public Media was live on Facebook to discuss immigration and our economy. View the video above or watch on WNED PBS's Facebook to see the comments.
About our host: Ba Zan Lin serves on the Board of Directors of Burmese Community Services and Partnership for the Public Good and co-chairs the Buffalo Burmese Water Festival.
About our guests: Eva Hassett serves as the Executive Director of the International Institute of Buffalo and Bruce Fisher is an author, a columnist for The Public and economics teacher at Buffalo State College.
BUFFALO
A breakdown of the Buffalo numbers
https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/city/buffalo/
NATIONAL
REFUGEES AS EMPLOYEES: GOOD RETENTION, STRONG RECRUITMENT, a report co-authored by TENT and the Fiscal Policy Institute
https://www.tent.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TENT_FPI-Refugees-as-Employees-Report.pdf
POPULATION
BROOKINGS – POPULATION DECLINE - 80 YEAR LOW BIRTHRATE FOR US CITIZENS
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/12/21/us-population-growth-hits-80-year-low-capping-off-a-year-of-demographic-stagnation/?fbclid=IwAR0X4C7jG_2H5hKhg2cr65BO1uRumaci7e2yR3hocjXWYLPgR9UuBxxy6gQ
LABOR MARKET
MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE – THE COST OF BRAIN WASTE AMONG HIGHLY SKILLED IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/untapped-talent-costs-brain-waste-among-highly-skilled-immigrants-united-states
HEALTHCARE
PBS NEWSHOUR STORY – 1 IN 6 HEALTHCARE WORKERS ARE FOREIGN BORN ACCORDING TO JAMA
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/new-study-shows-1-in-6-u-s-health-care-workers-are-immigrants
MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE – FOREIGN BORN HEALTHCARE WORKERS
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigrant-health-care-workers-united-states#Trends_Projections
HOUSING MARKET
URBAN LAND INSTITUTE – IMMIGRANTS ARE DRIVING THE DEMAND FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING – BUFFALO AMONG THE FIVE HOUSING MARKETS STUDIED
https://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/immigrants-suburban-drea/
The refugee crisis and other immigration issues have dominated the news headlines in recent years. Refugees are one of the main reasons Erie County has seen a growth in population, and yet most people have little or no contact with refugees on a daily basis. Refugee resettlement agencies in Buffalo find there are fundamental questions among our community about the process a refugee goes through in making Buffalo home. Many people may not fully understand how refugees come to the U.S., where they come from, or why. There are also questions about how refugees are evaluated and admitted into the U.S., the support they receive when they arrive, and the contributions they make to our community. The current administration is drastically cutting back on the number of refugees allowed to settle in the United States. How will this policy impact our Western New York community? The first in a series of Facebook LIVE events explored the refugee process in order to answer these and other questions the community has about the issue.
Making Buffalo Home is a two-year, in-depth Buffalo Toronto Public Media engagement initiative to inform and raise awareness of immigration for our entire community. 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.
Making Buffalo Home is funded by Rich Products Corporation and Rich Family Foundation.