The 21st Century is already marked by impressive achievements in many fields. Add another accomplishment to the list. For the first time in the history of New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) – the organization responsible for assisting hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, including helping to settle many immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States – the organization has appointed someone who was not only born outside the Big Apple, but also outside the United States.
Jose Valencia, who was born in Ecuador, has lived here for three decades and was educated at Baruch College, before becoming a highly qualified financial officer. Jose began his professional journey at the New York City Department of Finance. Having worked there and having gained solid practical experience, he began working at NYANA in 1990, during a period of intense activity for the organization. First, Mr. Valencia worked in NYANA’s financial department, where he helped set employee salaries and budgets.
Having successfully met the challenges with integrity and demonstrated leadership, within three years he was promoted to the position of Deputy to the Executive Director. His responsibilities were accordingly broadened in scope; he was charged with staff management duties as well as auxiliary services. In 1996 Valencia became vice president and helped shape a new direction in NYANA’s fundraising strategy, namely, building stronger relationships with other organizations, including public and private charitable foundations.
Mark Handelman, the long-time president and executive director, retired last month and is now working for UJA-Federation. With Handelman’s departure, the Board of Directors chose Jose Valencia to fill the vacant post.
We met the new president in his downtown Manhattan high-rise office building, which now represents the gates into America for so many Russian-speaking immigrants. After describing his professional career path, he made a special point to mention that he is honored to work with Russian-Jewish immigrants, who still comprise the largest single member contingent of NYANA.
Russian Forward: Does the sharp decline in Russian immigration to New York in recent years diminish the need for NYANA?
Jose Valencia: Absolutely not. Our constituency has dramatically changed. Ten years ago, Russian Jews comprised 95 percent of our clientele; now they make up just under half, although they are still NYANA’s single largest group of clients. In the second half of the 1990s, we are seeing decreased numbers of immigrants from the CIS. We no longer limit our support to the newly arrived, but we have expanded our support those who lived and worked here for some time.
RF: What types of services besides the traditional language courses are NYANA clients offered?
JV: We offer a whole series of special programs that aid immigrants in finding employment and securing medical (including psychiatric, pediatric, and drug rehab), legal, technical, and financial services. The last three mentioned services are typically provided to small business owners, who are either opening or expanding their ventures. NYANA has extensive databases that allow us to help our clients in their job search. Also, as we are located just blocks from Ground Zero, we began a program two years ago to aid immigrants affected by the attacks of September 11.
RF: The changes in your client base would mean that your programming does not only serve the needs of Russian Jews.
JV: That’s right. But the reason is not only because Russian-Jewish immigration has declined, but also because our funding comes from city, state, and federal governments as well as Jewish charitable organizations. These public grants are designed to serve a broad contingent of immigrant groups. Now, our immigrant clientele has become and is still becoming more Latin American, Asian, African, and particularly Cambodian, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Haitian, Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi as well as Israeli.
RF: Recently, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, NYANA was celebrating the victory of a former client, the famous architect, Daniel Libeskind, in the competition for the design of the new World Trade Center. But attendants of the celebration were met by demonstrators, actively protesting the recent firings at NYANA. Why were they protesting?
JV: NYANA receives grants based on contracts we have with private and government organizations. Currently we have about 70 such contracts, which at some point, all expire. According to the needs of these contracts, we make agreements with our hired employees. A majority of these agreements are on an annual basis. NYANA’s contracts are sometimes extended and sometimes stopped. When a contract is stopped, we are forced to interrupt our agreements with the employees. Such are the realities of life.
RF: I can’t resist this more delicate question: NYANA was created more than half a century ago in order to aid Jewish refugees. Also, all of its previous presidents were Jewish. Now you, a man of Latin American heritage, sits in this position. Does this not herald a change in NYANA’s strategic orientation?
JV: I don’t think so. The Board of Directors appointed me; their intent is not to radically alter the strategic direction of this organization. This can only be seen as an expansion of the organization’s functions. For a number of years I was second in charge of NYANA and consistently worked closely with the Jewish community of New York. In particular, I actively contributed to strengthening our contacts with the UJA-Federation. Professionally, I was apparently in the right place at the right time, and I hope to improve the state of affairs in NYANA.
RF: Thank you, Mr. Valencia, for the frank interview.
