Emira Habiby Browne holds the Queens Ambassador Award. Astoria, NY. Photo: Maria Eliades
Emira Habiby Browne, CIANA CEO and Founder, has been awarded the 2019 Queens Ambassador Award in recognition of her service to the immigrant community in New York City.
The Queens Ambassador Award was started by the TimesLedger newspaper to recognize the “invaluable contributions” made by immigrants to the most diverse part of the United States. Schneps Media, which bought the paper in late 2018, is continuing that tradition.
According to the TimesLedger editors in the inaugural year of the award, these immigrants, “have never forgotten their roots and are committed to giving back to the communities where they now live. It is a gift to have them living and working among us in the most diverse county in the United States — and probably the world.”
This spirit is exactly what Habiby Browne and her work embodies. She founded CIANA in 2006 to serve new immigrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia in the wake of 9/11, and later Latin America with the changing population in Astoria where the CBO is located. CIANA’s overall mission is to help immigrants adapt to the U.S. and take on American values while maintaining pride in their own rich heritages.
Habiby Browne also embodies the award herself as a Palestinian immigrant who has made the U.S. her home. With over thirty years of experience in social services, she founded the first Arabic-speaking social services organization in New York City, and her expertise in immigrant integration, cultural competency, and family and child services is realized in CIANA.
Habiby Browne has served on several advisory boards and task forces on immigrant issues, and has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards in recognition of her contributions to the immigrant community and the service of others. In 2004, 2006, and 2011, Emira was selected by the USDOS Bureau of International Information Programs to present her immigrant integration model in Spain, Italy, Poland, and Germany.
The CIANA family is very proud of the recognition of Habiby Browne’s achievements and extends full congratulations to the immigration trailblazer.