About 6,000 Jewish immigrants will enter the United States in 1955, it was estimated here today by the New York Association for New Americans. The great majority are expected to settle in New York City and it is anticipated that 80 percent of them will be in need of NYANA aid.
“Some of them,” says a NYANA report, “can be served simply by providing the guidance which will orient them to their new surroundings. Others will need assistance in locating homes and jobs. But inevitably there will be a ‘hard core,’ numbering several hundred families, that will be dependent upon NYANA month after month, until rehabilitation is accomplished.”
During 1955 NYANA’s family service department is expected to provide services to some 820 individual families, representing about 2,450 men, women and children. An increase is anticipated in the caseload of this department for the year as compared with 1954 because a larger number of new arrivals is expected to present complex problems.
The vocational services department, in turn, is expected to provide guidance, employment and rehabilitative services to approximately 2,300 individual immigrants during 1955. It is hoped that the labor market will be favorable so that most of the immigrants may quickly become self-supporting.
$1,138,275 SOUGHT BY NYANA TO AID IMMIGRANTS IN NEW YORK
During 1954, NYANA, which receives its funds from the United Jewish Appeal, expended about $978, 600 for its operations, of which $757,380 was used for NYANA’s own services and $221, 220 for subventions to other local agencies. NYANA’s needs for 1955 are estimated at $1,138,275. Of this sum, $920,975 is expected to cover the agency’s own services and $217,300 represents grants to other local agencies. These agencies provide technical immigration and naturalization services, which include counsel on problems relating to deportation, alien registration, change of status and preparation for American citizenship.
“During the five and one-half years of NYANA’s existence it has helped more than 53,000 newcomers to become part of America,” the report stresses. “In 1955 there must be no lessening of the sense of urgency which guides the approach to the problem of Jewish immigration to America merely because the number of immigrants is not as great as it was when the D.P. camps were being emptied. The human problems of today’s immigrant are, if possible, even more acute than those during the period of mass immigration.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
