Liana Grey, CIANA's Director of Educational Programs, tutoring an elementary school student at the office. Astoria, NY. Photo: Karen Smul
CIANA has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Coalition for Asian Americans for Children and Families (CACF) through the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund (CCNSF), an initiative established by the New York City Council.
CIANA CEO and Founder, Emira Habiby Browne says that the grant comes at an opportune time for CIANA’s growth, enabling it to purchase new computers and software to keep up with increasing demands for data-tracking and program effectiveness.
“We’re at a critical stage of growth,” Habiby Browne says. “All around the world and especially in the U.S. right now, immigrants are being increasingly marginalized. CIANA is more needed than ever, and the CCNSF grant gives us the opportunity to upgrade our technology and to measure the results of our programs so that we can better serve our clients and help them successfully integrate.”
The grant will allow CIANA to manage and increase the effectiveness of the programs already offered by measuring their impact on immigrant families’ success, in addition to revealing how to further target clients to get at their real needs. CIANA’s case manager, Kimberly Iboy, agrees with CEO Habiby Browne that the grant will ensure better service outcomes.
“This grant will help us serve more clients more efficiently,” says Iboy. “It can get messy and chaotic to know what we can focus on with our current systems. I’m relying on multiple platforms to meet demand and find solutions to clients quickly.”
While the case management program is at the heart of CIANA’s holistic model that delivers direct services to its immigrant communities, the benefits of the grant aren’t limited to data collection and management. All of the staff is excited about the new computers, particularly Liana Grey, CIANA’s Director of Educational Programs. Students from local public schools who attend CIANA’s Elementary After School Tutoring Program increasingly need computers to complete school assignments.
“If we’re going to offer better quality tutoring, we’re going to need computers,” Grey says. “We’ve noticed a growing trend that every kid has at least one homework assignment on the computer, especially in math and reading. This will bring CIANA into the 21st century.”
Grey says that larger trends in education dictate that data should inform instruction, both for the learner and for the educator. Incorporating the latest technology into programs at CIANA reinforces CIANA’s model of success. Through this highly competitive grant, CIANA looks forward to better meeting its overall mission to help new immigrants succeed and fully integrate into their communities.
About The CCNSF
The CCNSF was created to aid capacity-building in Black, Latino, and Asian-led community-based organizations that serve communities of color in New York City. Lead organizations in this initiative include the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, New York Urban League, and Hispanic Federation, with additional support from the Asian American Federation.
The fund was established in 2014 by the New York City Council with $2.5 million allocated to receiving organizations. The amount allocated has risen each year, with $3.755 million now given to awardees in 2019. To date, the CCNSF has supported 309 capacity-building projects in CBOs. CIANA is proud to be one of the awardees this year to further its mission of helping its diverse immigrant families thrive in New York City.