ABOUT US
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"I cannot imagine my survival without New Neighbors Partnership"
— Single mom from Pakistan
Overview
New Neighbors Partnership welcomes refugee, asylee, and asylum-seeking families by fostering local partnerships and community support. Our core clothing partnership program matches refugee families with local NYC families who have older kids and can pass on hand-me-down clothing from season to season. This initiative provides ongoing support to families who usually receive (at most) three months of resettlement support when they first arrive in the US.
Kids grow quickly, families have continuous need for children's clothing, and clothing drives are a time-intensive and temporary solution — with NNP, clothes go directly from the families that have to the families that need, providing an environmentally sustainable model.
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We've established clothing partnerships between NY families and newly-resettled families from 35 countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Ghana, Chad, Guatemala, and Haiti. No matter where they're from, we're here to welcome them to the neighborhood.​
Building on the success of our clothing partnership, New Neighbors helps foster long-term support networks in other ways, including broader material, informational, and social support. NNP encourages neighbors to help fellow neighbors, emphasizing a culture of sharing and mutual support, rather than charity. Through this unique approach, NNP helps refugee families not just resettle, but truly belong and thrive.
How We Started
In 2017, founder Shoshana Barzel met a newly arrived refugee mom from Afghanistan named Naeema, who was pregnant and expecting a baby girl. Shoshana asked her friend who had just had a baby to share some extra supplies and baby clothes with Naeema. Six months later, Shoshana's friend returned with a batch of hand-me-downs from her daughter in the next size up — and New Neighbors Partnership was born.
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As a child, all of Shoshana's clothes were hand-me-downs from her older cousin, and Shoshana wanted all newcomer families to have this access to a dignified method of resource sharing. She started making more connections between refugee families and local families with older kids.
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​​​In 2020, the pandemic led to an increase in the need for support among newcomer families — and an increase in the number of local families stuck at home cleaning out their closets and looking to help their fellow neighbors. Shoshana left her teaching job at Columbia University and turned New Neighbors into a formal nonprofit.
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New Neighbors Partnership now engages hundreds of community volunteers each year with a staff of eight team members who come from around the world and are dedicated to helping newcomers connect to the vibrant New York community. ​​
Check out our
2024 Impact Report
