By Dustin Brown
Although New Land Community Center in Ridgewood first opened in March, founders waited until they had something to celebrate before officially announcing their presence in the diverse immigrant neighborhood.
After convincingly establishing itself as a haven for immigrants still acquainting themselves with their new land, the community center’s grand opening took place Monday afternoon.
The center has passed a most important milestone with the graduation of its first English-as-a-Second-Language program students, an event documented in photographs on the center’s wall, along with pictures from a summertime youth trip to Forest Park.
Additionally, New Land’s after-school program has reached new levels with 75 students enrolled and a waiting list of about 50.
The storefront immigrant center has become so successful, in fact, that the small staff could not accommodate all the requests to help patrons fill out forms, a service that had to be dropped.
The facility sprang from the vision of Tran Thi Nguyet, who founded the non-profit Asian American Consulting Services more than two decades after immigrating “empty-handed” to the United States from Vietnam in 1968. Formally incorporated in 1992, the service was designed to provide immigration support for Vietnamese immigrants who did not have the benefit of an embassy or consulate to advocate their rights.
Although the organization is based in Lower Manhattan, Nguyet, a resident of Ridgewood, frequently found herself helping neighbors.
“They called me and I’d give them advice,” Nguyet said.
The informal services she offered in Ridgewood eventually developed into something more substantial, including an after-school program at PS 88. The purchase of the building at 677 Seneca Ave. to create a storefront community center was simply a logical next step.
“They said, ‘Why don’t you have services here?’” Nguyet said. “It’s like my hometown here.”
Services originally were tailored to help the Asian community, but the center now serves all immigrants, as evinced by an awning that reads: “New Land Community Center” in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.
At Monday’s grand opening, Borough President Claire Shulman praised the center, hailing Nguyet’s vision for transforming “a storefront which was nothing to speak of into a wonderful, beautiful, light, clean, airy community center,” allowing immigrants to “mainstream into our society.”
Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5, which includes Ridgewood, expects the center will soon grow well beyond its new space.
“There is a big influx of new immigrants in this part of Ridgewood,” Giordano said. “This is a place that they can kind of call home.”
On opening day, the newly renovated basement was transformed into a makeshift play area for students enrolled in the after-school program, which the reception had displaced from the first floor. School bags and coats were strewn haphazardly across the basement on chairs and tables occupied by unplugged computers still waiting to be set up for classroom use.
Although the students ordinarily do their homework and play academic games under the supervision of volunteers, the excitement of the celebration left only a stalwart few with sufficient resolve to bury their heads in their composition books. Most eventually gave up for more compelling activities like jumping up and down and listening to a teen-age volunteer play music on a keyboard.
“It’s fun,” said Jose Jaquez, a 10-year-old sixth grader at IS 77. “I get to hang out with a lot of friends.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
