Without its vast array of cultural attractions and events, New York City might seem little more than a cramped, overpriced hub of-rather impatient-humanity. Many people choose to live here for its easy access to world class institutions. And yet, the vast majority of our clients survive in the city without experiencing any of the cultural phenomena that make it worthwhile to endure the inconveniences of daily life in New York.

When our Volunteer Coordinator Meghan Nickerson first began working with this program as a volunteer interpreter, she was struck by the amount of clients who, when prompted, described days spent sitting alone in a room with nothing to occupy their time but their thoughts. Once they became eligible to work in the US, their discourse tended toward description of extensive hours spent on the job, fatigue, or worries about the cost of living in the city. The vast majority of our clients move from waiting in sub-optimal conditions to procure legal status in this country, to obtaining employment and working long hours to support themselves and their families without truly exploring their new home. This seemed to her a situation easily rectified, and she set about to structure a sort of 'New York City Orientation Group'-a working title that has yet to be replaced by a catchier moniker-for our clients. Continued...