Make the Road New York (MRNY)
PredecessorMake the Road by Walking and Latin American Integration Center
FormationSeptember 19, 2007 (2007-09-19)
FoundersOona Chatterjee, Ana Maria Archila,[1] and Andrew Friedman
Registration no.11-3344389
Co-Executive Directors
Arlenis Morel, Jose Lopez and Theo Oshiro
Websitehttps://maketheroadny.org/

Make the Road New York (MRNY) is the largest progressive grassroots immigrant-led organization in New York state.[2] The organization works on issues of workers' rights; immigrant and civil rights; environmental and housing justice; justice for transgender, gender nonconforming, intersex, and queer (TGNCIQ) people; and educational justice.[3] It has over 23,000 members[4] and five community centers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and Westchester County.[5]

During the Donald Trump administration, Make the Road New York made national headlines for its work to end major banks’ financing of private prisons and immigrant detention centers[6] and for leading protests at JFK Airport after the administration's January 27, 2017, announcement of an executive order suspending entry to refugees and to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.[7]

At the state level, the organization has championed legislation for immigrant New Yorkers, such as the New York Dream Act, which gives undocumented students access to financial resources in higher education,[8] and the State Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, restoring access to driver's licenses for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.[9]

There are now sister Make the Road organizations in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.[10]

History

Make the Road New York was created in 2007 through the merger of two New York City-based organizations, Make the Road by Walking and the Latin American Integration Center.[3]

Make the Road by Walking (MRBW) was a Bushwick, Brooklyn-based community organization founded in 1997 by low-income community members of color motivated by the belief that "the center of leadership must be within the community."[11] It helped community members organize in order to change the public conversation about welfare and improving policy.[12]

The Latin American Integration Center (LAIC), founded in 1992 in Jackson Heights, Queens, provided support to Latin American immigrants in the form of community organizing, adult education, and citizenship assistance.[13]

Make the Road New York opened a Long Island office in Brentwood in 2012 to serve Nassau and Suffolk Counties’ growing immigrant communities.[14] In 2018, through a merger with the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, it began working with immigrant and working-class communities in Westchester County out of its White Plains Office.[15]

In April 2021, co-executive directors Deborah Axt and Javier Valdés stepped down, and Arlenis Morel, Jose Lopez, and Theo Oshiro became the new co-executive directors.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Lagare, Liena (7 April 2022). "Ana María Archila Wants To Empower". Bklyner.com.
  2. ↑ Acevedo, Angélica. "Commission on Human Rights finds NYPD discriminated against Make the Road NY's Spanish-speaking members". QNS.com. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  3. 1 2 McAlevey, Jane (22 May 2013). "Make the Road New York: Success Through 'Love and Agitation'". The Nation. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  4. ↑ Moench, Mallory (2 November 2018). "Trial on N. Y. lawsuits challenging U.S. Census citizenship question to begin". Times Union. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Contact". Make the Road New York. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  6. ↑ Lobosco, Kate (26 July 2018). "Immigrant advocates attack banks for financing private prisons". CNN. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  7. ↑ Rosenberg, Eli (28 January 2017). "Protest Grows 'Out of Nowhere' at Kennedy Airport After Iraqis Are Detained". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  8. ↑ Amin, Reema (23 January 2019). "New York legislators pass DREAM Act". Chalkbeat. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  9. ↑ Wang, Vivian (17 June 2019). "Driver's Licenses for the Undocumented Are Approved in Win for Progressives". New York Times. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  10. ↑ https://maketheroadny.org/
  11. ↑ "Interview with Andrew Friedman, Co-Director of Make the Road by Walking". Make the Road. 30 August 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  12. ↑ Bobo, Kimberley A.; Pabellón, Marien Casillas (2016). The Worker Center Handbook: A Practical Guide to Starting and Building the New Labor Movement. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
  13. ↑ McAlevey, Jane (2014). "The High-Touch Model: Make the Road New York's Participatory Approach to Immigrant Organizing". In Milkman, Ruth; Ott, Ed (eds.). New Labor in New York. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. pp. 173–186. ISBN 9780801452833. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt5hh18v.12.
  14. ↑ Baver, Sherrie; Falcon, Angelo; Haslip-Viera, Gabriel, eds. (2017). Latinos in New York: Communities in Transition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. p. 211. ISBN 9781501706448.
  15. ↑ "Recursos en Westchester y NYC". Greenburgh Public Library. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  16. ↑ "Make the Road New York announces leadership shift". Politico Pro. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
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