Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Masters student
Pratt Institute – Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
sylvia.fuca@gmail.com
May 2006
Communities of Immigrants.
1
CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION 5
Overview 5
Literature review 7
Economics of immigration 14
Organizational literature 16
Research methods 22
Human capital 41
Professionals 42
2
Professionals’ unemployment and underemployment 43
Cultural organizations 46
Churches 46
Social capital 54
Community initiatives 55
III. RECOMMENDATIONS 62
Overview 62
Mission 67
Stakeholders 69
Further studies 77
Conclusions 79
3
References 82
Appendix 86
GRAPHS
TABLES
4
I. INTRODUCTION
Overview
The Romanian community in New York is one of the hundred small ethnic
communities that do not have and probably will never have the sufficient size to form an
enclave or a majority minority in any of the city’s neighborhoods. There is very little
literature on the effects of lack of participation in the civic life of the Romanians or other
ethnic groups similar in size. The gap in knowledge of the impact of social isolation on
Adding to this opportunity, the stabilized social conditions in the sending country
The tendency of inward growth of any ethnic group and the lack of participation
in local decision making can be corrected through a growth strategy that eliminates or
mitigates the conditions that stimulate separation. A community development plan for the
Romanians will try to bond different groups inside the community, and will create
bridges with other ethnic communities and with the local stakeholders and planning
5
community planning project for the Romanian immigrant community in New York. The
project promotes social change and economic development through building community
capacity.
The research’s primary goal is to evidence the need of institutional support for the
and cannot be addressed by the traditional planning tools without the recognition of what
makes immigrant community participation different from the one of the native-born
population. The experience from the current community planning practice and research,
and dynamics, will lead to a more inclusive community planning approach where
immigrants are active participants in making local decisions that affect their own lives.
Because it is not possible to generalize planning strategies from the case study of
the Romanians to other ethnic groups, and an isolated development effort of the
Romanian community planning practice to include other ethnic communities. At the same
time I suggest solutions for creating links with the existing planning entities within the
The main client of the study is the Romanian community, specifically the
stakeholders whose interests are directly related to community capacity. The most
6
important stakeholder is the Romanian Orthodox Church from Sunnyside that in the past
Also, the study extends the Sunnyside comprehensive planning research1 with an
in-depth analysis of the Romanian community, with the intention of interpreting the
community. The recommendations made and the conclusions reached through switching
the point of view from a place-based to a population-based analysis, add more details to
Literature Review
• economics of immigration
• organizational literature
always been an American feature. As early as 19th century, Tocqueville noted that
Americans “are forever forming associations.” Being models for community organizing
even for advanced Western democracies, the principles of participatory planning and
(Fisher, n.d.). Though, ironically, immigrant people coming from less developed
1
“Creating Community in Sunnyside” (Meiklejohn et al., 2006) is the only planning study dedicated to this
neighborhood.
7
countries, when in America, do not have a voice in local decision making while waiting,
usually for decades, for full citizenship rights, or frequently falling out of status and
becoming undocumented.
voice were made (for example, Singh (2003) mentions small empowerment projects
common decision making practices. Reasons for lack of participation range from high
their country of origin, and plain social apathy and marginalization (Corderro-Guzman et
al., 2001). Whereas their role vis-à-vis the civil society seems to be weak, this weakness
is overcome by their notable ability to form job networks (Waldinger and Lichter, 2003).
These networks create strong ties of emotional support, sometimes to the detriment of
their own social integration and with an isolating effect (Green and Haines, 2002). The
vicious circle of social isolation and lack of economic opportunities perpetuates poverty
among immigrants. They can escape this circle only by individual effort and tearing
problems than the ones at the beginning of the century, regarding job opportunities,
economic gains and the possibility to step up the social ladder. The industrial sector used
to provide heavy and dirty jobs, but decent remunerations. Often unionized, these jobs
8
offered the possibility of promotion within the same company. Today, the low-bid
services sector, which absorbs large numbers of immigrant workers, and the labor-
intensive formal and informal manufacturing jobs lack unionization and provide wages
that confer the families that are dependent on such jobs a below poverty-level status
(Sassen, 2001). The upward mobility of the employee inside the same company and
eventual attempts to create unions are deterred by patrons who either fire or threaten the
worker with deportation. Considering that the present wave of immigration is almost as
big as the one at the turn of the century, the integration problems seem to have more
social impact now. On one hand, we have the positive effects of increasing consumer
demand and stimulating the economy, while on the other hand, there are the negative
effects of thinning the American middle class by dragging down wages for native-born
employees, who have to comply with the same working rules as the immigrants, or
otherwise are thrown out of the industry and replaced by other immigrants (Drum Major,
2005).
Another radical change brought by the 21st century is a redefinition of the role of
state from the traditional role of making decisions to a regulatory role led to an increased
valuable knowledge of the reality on a block and lot level, to fine-tune the
spending of the public funds. As an example, the Empowerment Zone and the Enterprise
9
concessions to firms in specially designated areas (usually these communities have high
rates of minority and ethnic groups), requires by law the community participation as a
measure of equitable representation and fair share of benefits (Green and Haines, 2003).
Also, since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
providing services for welfare recipients and designing programs for their reintegration
into the labor force. The main beneficiaries of these programs are also immigrants. The
geography).
administration and localities has also transferred the institutional help for immigrants
from settlement houses to LDCs. The activities of charitable movements were seen as a
that now often serve neighborhoods with large immigrant groups and deal with concepts
10
Today planners are the beneficiaries of much more sophisticated tools for
agencies and communities, planners create small revolutions every day by showing the
place occupied by the same population. So finally urban myths regarding immigrants’
and also new comprehensive strategies of immigrant integration can be formulated (The
Though, the planning practice lags behind the technological capabilities, and the
associations, has not incorporated important global planning issues, among which
immigration is an important one (Globally Planning Task Force, 2003). Politicians also
do not regard the immigrant non-voters with due consideration (Bedolla, 2003; Earnest,
2003; Hayduk, 2004; Tactaquin, 2004). Planners’ ability to deal with immigration issues
Theory:
planning practice
Practice:
11
• planners do not have the tools to outreach immigrants and establish sustained
• immigrants lack the ability to self-organize (they do not have the time and
• positive effects of immigration not sufficiently explored (Carter & Sutch, 1999;
Policy:
ethnically incongruent public space, lack of opportunities for start-up businesses, low-
standard or non-existent community facilities designed for their needs, scarce public
services) (Cordero-Guzman et al., 2001; Drum Major, 2005; Foner, 2000; Sassen, 1989)
making (Earnest, 2003; Hayduk, 2004; Hum, 2002; Raskin, 1993; Wucker, 2004)
naturalized citizens able to vote on a national level is only around 40% from the total of
legal immigrants (The New Neighbors, 2003). Active participants to the local budget –
the average immigrant and their immediate descendents pay $80,000 more in tax
contributions over the course of their lives than they receive in benefits (National
by a long immigrant visa application process. This situation inequitably makes the legal
democratic process. The chance for an immigrant group to have political representation is
even smaller if the group is spread in more than one electoral district (Bedolla, 2003;
12
Earnest, 2003; Hayduk, 2004; Tactaquin, 2004). Considering the language and cultural
barriers that usually impede immigrants’ communication and organizing, many groups
often cannot form communities of interest. In times of rapid immigration and racial
segregation, gaps between the represented and the under-represented become more
evidenced the particularity of the enclave economies of occupying niches that are
increasingly irrelevant to the growth trajectories of the post-industrial city: low-wage and
a study of Sunset Park, Brooklyn (Hum, 2001) where the Asian and Latino enclaves
created small businesses that improved the neighborhood’s economy, but they also
created economic inequity, low wages and poor working conditions: “…The qualities of
opportunities especially for workers” (p. 17). Hum’s key finding on assessing growth
capacity building along with asset building strategies. Thus, the entrepreneurial base of
the community needs to be developed by means of better matching skills with the
external market opportunities, and with identifying and capturing new markets.
with more than half of the foreign-born population coming in the last 10 years, therefore
13
jobs and social programs, overcrowdedness, high rents, and separated families. The
methods employed are time- and resource-consuming and elaborate. They are crafted for
immigrant neighborhoods where typically available data from traditional sources, census,
INS, American community survey, Title III, public school registration data, do not show
the reality accurately, due to difficulties in counting immigrants. Based on the same
study emphasizes the reiterative community building process where the stages of
organizations, ethnic groups and community stakeholders on the other, succeed one
another.
Economics of immigration
international financial and business sector to assure its position as a world-leading global
center, exposing its economy to ample market fluctuations. The current administration
accepts a shift of attention toward the more stable small businesses sector, as a
policies. It is stimulated by the global trends of liberalizing the markets that displace
York’s economy as a global center, that creates many services sector jobs with low wages
14
for the newcomers (Sassen, 2001). Many immigrants who do not find employment
businesses that provide them and their families minimal subsistence wages in enclave
momentum, as inscribed in the 2005 local election debates of Bloomberg and Ferrer,
aspects of the immigrant economic life is visible in the entrepreneurial patterns. Many
immigrant businesses rely on import-export and retail activities; however, the high real
estate market in Manhattan, where immigrants would find the needed skill concentration
Failure, 2005). In the outer boroughs, on the other hand, entrepreneurs do not feel
encouraged by the city’s sometime cumbersome regulations and taxes, even with the
Business Outreach Centers playing as intermediaries between the administration and the
Recent research shows that many American cities that were deepened into the
economic crisis of the 80s and suffered demographic losses, LA and Houston in
particular, outperformed New York because they knew how to use the social resources of
their newest citizens as a means of recovery (Center for an Urban Future, 2005b). Ethnic
15
enclaves are motors of economic development that need to be integrated into the
New York continues to lose jobs to its immediate periphery and to other parts of
the nation partly because the city did not find ways to encourage the development of the
small businesses sector, as a way of reducing service expenses for the large companies.
The lack of business infrastructure in the boroughs, difficult conditions for start-ups, and
heavy bureaucracy affect all small businesses (Center for an Urban Future, 2005b),
though a certain category of immigrants, more precisely the immigrants lacking the
predisposed to open new businesses, are hit harder. They do not have access to capital
and found their businesses with cash savings or contributions from relatives. Also,
because they do not have a business education, they do not understand the importance of
keeping proper records to demonstrate their firm’s success, thus cutting their access to
credit. This group of small businesses requires simple solutions through community
outreach, but most of all, a change of perception at the level of the city’s economic
Organizational literature
Social capital
The propensity for community life in America has been widely debated. The
question is whether it eroded in the past three or four decades under the pressure of
entertainment and transportation technologies and the implied population mobility and
consolidation of networks with a weak link to place are found by Putnam (1995) as
16
reasons for this erosion. Nonetheless, a noticeable reduced membership in community
organizations affects the community planning process by impeding horizontal ties and
community outreach. Putnam also notes that the decline in intolerance and open
discrimination is in complex relation with the erosion of social capital, a positive trait
explained by the theory of bridging social capital. That is, weak ties and strong ties, the
components of social networks, dictate the value of a network life by the way they
interplay inside the group. Weak ties, instrumental in developing social relationships –
acquaintanceship, material aid and services, information and social contact – have the
capacity of bridging networks and creating horizontal ties of egalitarian and robust
democratic structures, whereas strong ties ensure emotional support, advice and
friendship. At the same time – when they are too strong – strong ties could evolve in
isolationist factors by fragmenting the community and weakening the social capital
Immigrant groups are exceedingly cultivating strong ties, due to their social
vulnerabilities as new-comers. This way, the groups isolate themselves, creating informal
job networks, ethnic niches and enclaves (Green and Haines, 2002, Waldinger and
Lichter, 2003). An ethnic economic niche can be limitative when isolated from the
mainstream economy and when underusing its development potential in a narrow market
(Green & Haines, 2002), but it can have a thriving evolution if opened to new resources.
Putnam (1995) stresses that closely knit social, economic and political organizations are
enter new markets outside ethnic niches. Social capital of networks may be least effective
17
in the cases where there are primarily strong ties and an absence of weak ties (Green &
Haines, 2002).
The concept of building social capital makes use of the principles of social
network, strong and weak ties, horizontal and hierarchical ties, to construct a theory of
organizational resources, and social capital existing within a given community that can be
leveraged to solve collective problems and improve or maintain the well-being of a given
community. It may operate through informal social processes and/or organized effort.”
(Chaskin, 2001)
resources it consumes and stores resources without creating new ones. Flora and Flora
closely protected social networks cut off communication and acceptance of outsiders,
thus maintaining its social capital at the expense of other community capitals, i.e.
financial and built capital, and human capital. They also find that the entrepreneurial
level, and is influenced by the level of diversity of networks and mobilization of internal
resources. Their study points to the necessity of communities to work together, to build a
The visible disparity between the participation in the community life of different
ethnic groups and the gap between new-comers and the established communities suggest
18
types of communities. By taking as a datum the commonality of the social capital and by
assets like networks, cultural and professional elites, norms and values, is a starting point
in community building (Chaskin, 2001; Green & Haines, 2002). Advocacy groups
dealing with immigrant problems have often succeeded in building inter-ethnic bridges
There are a few planning entities that can make substantial contribution to
knowledge of the neighborhoods on the street and block level, and exercise of local
decision making and relation with policy makers, have a say in the dynamics of the
The Department of Small Business Services has intensified the efforts to create a
better business environment for self-starters, through lighter bureaucracy and better outer
borough outreach through its Business Solution Centers (Griffith, 2005). The economic
2
The unsuccessful attempts of Pratt Center for Communities and Economic Development to organize
visioning sessions in neighborhoods with an immigrant majority in NW Queens in February 2006 suggest
that immigrant community participation requires special outreach tools. These new tools would take into
consideration the above mentioned differences.
19
important for them to gain more in-depth knowledge of the needs of the business
community building agenda for an ethnic group. It does not start from the needs, but from
the assets – cultural values that can be commoditized, immigrant rights and opportunities
(IAO, 2006).
development, created a few important development plans for communities with large
concentrations of foreign-born population, among which the most important for Queens
are the Business Outreach Centers (BOC) coordinated by LaGuardia Community College
(BOC, 2005), and the recent studies on immigrant entrepreneurship in Jackson Heights
Relevance of the recent Hunter College’s study on Sunnyside, Queens for the
present study
of planning students from Hunter College, finalized in March 2006, the conclusions
drawn by the comprehensive study of Sunnyside reinforce the need for interviewing as a
Many small ethnic groups in New York form enclaves in Sunnyside. This mosaic of
restaurants, specialty stores and services. This original feature is probably the reason for a
20
more intensive weekend life in the neighborhood noticed by the authors of the study.
Getting inspiration from similar experiences elsewhere, the study proposes a set
membership to the local community and of immigrant integration into the public life. The
School Playground Greening Renovation project identifies the actors who can carry out
the proposed redesigning of the only public open spaces in the neighborhood, the PS 150
and PS199 school playgrounds. 24/7 schools: Getting the Community Together in an
already-Integrated Place is an initiative to rent school building space after school hours,
Services, which has the capacity to search and apply for grants. Involving Area Youth:
Enhancing the Retail Sector, a joint effort of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce and
Ethnic Market proposes two kinds of street events: multi-ethnic fests, celebrating the
given day.
particular are the following. There are around 2400 Romanian-born people in Sunnyside
(4.4% of neighborhood population), the seventh group in size (p.30). Along with the
21
interviewing process taking place on the streets, there were frequent encounters with
Romanian residents and business owners of different histories and backgrounds, from
recent newcomers to long time residents. Also, among the few immigrant community
advocate group for immigrant legislation and programs only. The immigrant
population larger than the one in the neighborhood and being only distributors of state
Although the study approaches many other aspects of community planning, like
land use, housing and landmark preservation, the most important findings of
Meicklejohn’s paper regarding the present study are the incredible fragmentation of the
neighborhood’s ethnic map, the lack of open and public space, inappropriate and not
could have an equal effect on the Romanian community as on any other ethnic group in
the neighborhood.
Research methods
development of the Romanian immigrant group and the relationship of the community to
external institutions in the city (LDCs, city government agencies, civic groups)
22
• Information gathered on the field (survey, personal observation) to
The primary geographic area of concern is Sunnyside, the neighborhood with the
Starting from needs specific to immigrants in general, the study tests them, as well as the
advanced solutions, against the reality inside the Romanian community. The testing
involves also the questioning of the role of planning practice and policy in problem
solving. In other words, the study attempts to answer the question: How are the problems
endemic to immigrant groups reflected inside the Romanian community, what are the
organization and with the cooperation of the existing planning entities (community
geographic position and a good connection with other parts of the city. Romanian
businesses are opened with predilection in this neighborhood. Even though the biggest
Romanian group does not live in this neighborhood, the most visible manifestations of
development projects depend on building the capacity of this immigrant community. The
23
Romanian group is one of the many small ethnic groups comprising Sunnyside that has a
low level of formal organization and relies primarily on ethnic networks for providing
practical support for its members. In order for the development projects to become
community. These bridges need to build on the existing reality, taking into consideration
the strong ties that are established inside the immigrant groups and the particularities of
improve their group’s organization through collective action that integrates all internal
immigrant groups’ characteristics. While there are signals that the neighborhood plays a
key role in the life of several small immigrant groups, little is known so far about the true
relationship of Sunnyside with other neighborhoods in Queens from the point of view of
24
II. THE ROMANIAN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY IN NEW YORK
More than 150 languages are spoken by the diverse ethnic groups that reside in
New York City. Many ethnic groups are too small to impact the life of the city in a
significant way and have little literature written on their behalf. One of these small but
fast-growing communities of newcomers that emerged in the dawn of the post- Hart-
history of Romanian immigration and its syncopated stages dictated by the break in 1924,
which was caused by the Immigration Reform. The Great Depression that followed right
after discouraged immigration even farther. From this first wave of immigration came the
founding of a Romanian Jewish synagogue on the Lower East Side and a Romanian
Christian Orthodox church on the Upper West Side. Before WWI, the Romanian Jews
were an urban population in Europe, so they found it easy to settle and find jobs in New
York, primarily on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Moreover, because they were
Yiddish-speakers, they integrated into the eastern European Jewish community already
before WWI came from the countryside and had difficulty finding urban jobs. Most of
them arrived alone or were temporarily separated from their families, working in the
25
coalmines in the Rustbelt states, primarily in Ohio and Illinois. The time spent in
America was an average two years before they returned to their families with the money
they saved to buy land and build a house in their native villages. There is a saying among
the oldest members of the community who remained in America, “make a thousand and
hit the road”. With a remigration of 56% (Daniels, 2002), a true community could hardly
From WWII to the late 1970s immigration maintained very low rates, and the
result was a small community with a very high human capital. The community members
ranged from persecuted old political elites, to intellectuals and college professors who
civically engaged individuals who refused to subscribe to the doctrine of the communist
regime. They formed strong ties in order to create a political opposition to the communist
government back home. The Romanian immigration suffered disruption after the Big
Crash in the ‘30s, as almost all eastern European groups did. Unlike the western
European groups, Romanian immigration declined after the economic crisis passed in the
aftermath of WWII because the Cold War kept the US borders impenetrable even for the
victims of war. There was no refugee status conferred to people coming from Romania. It
was not until the second half of the ‘70s, at the beginning of Ceausescu’s harsh
dictatorship that the borders opened again to receive refugees. But because Romania was
a closed country, with emigration severely controlled, the immigration to America was
very low. As the dictatorial regime became more and more unbearable, people found
ways to escape the country. The number of Romanian immigrants in the US increased
rapidly from 12,393 in 1971-80 to 30,857 in the next decade. The sharp increase
26
continued after the opening of the Romanian borders in 1990, the 1991-2000 decade
Among conditions that stimulate emigration from Romania into the US are:
economic inequality – a very small elite of nouveau riche and a thick layer of low-income
in Bucharest (its population equals 10% of the country’s population) that spans more than
two decades and hits the young and poor hardest; the distrust in government structures
due to corruption; and, equally important, an ineffective social welfare system (Kligman,
2005). Remittances are important contributions to the GNP. Therefore, the governments
in the past 16 years did not develop effective policies for discouraging emigration. The
present administration has greater support from the masses and is improving the
bureaucratic system. It also benefits from an increase in popularity that followed from
the acceptance of the country into the EU political structures. This factor probably
contributed to the slight decrease of the emigration growth rate in the past two years.
The 2000 United States Census lists 367,310 persons of Romanian ancestry.
More than 53% of the foreign born Romanian-Americans entered the United
States between 1980 and 1990, the highest proportion among all European-American
ethnic groups. From 1980 to 2004, a median of 4,147 people born in Romania entered the
US annually. The annual entry growth rate fluctuated, reaching its peak in the 1980s and
slightly decreasing after 2000. The New York- northern New Jersey -Long Island area,
27
with 64,475, or 0.2% of the total area population, make up for 17.5% of total Romanian
R o m a n ia n im m ig r a t io n i n t h e U S o n 1 0 - y e a r in te r v a l s
1 8 6 0 -2 0 0 0
p o p u la t io n
8 0 ,0 0 0
6 7 ,6 4 6
7 0 ,0 0 0
6 0 ,0 0 0
5 3 ,0 0 8
5 1 ,2 0 3
5 0 ,0 0 0
4 0 ,0 0 0
3 0 ,8 5 7
3 0 ,0 0 0
2 0 ,0 0 0
1 2 ,7 5 0 1 3 ,3 1 1 1 2 ,3 9 3
1 0 ,0 0 0 6 ,3 4 8
3 ,8 7 1 2 ,5 3 1
1 ,0 7 6 1 ,0 3 9
0
-90
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
1
1
1
1
0
0
188
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
0
0
-19
-20
1
1
189
199
Graph 1
Source: INS data
New York City has a population of 30,360 Romanians, almost half of which
(14,120) live in Queens. Between 1990 and 2000 the Romanian foreign born population
in New York increased from 12,724 to 19,280, while the population in New York of
Romanian ancestry (born in the US, first generation and up) decreased from 38,858 to
30,360.
An average of 13,000 people enter America annually through New York City,
which remains the main port of entry for the Romanian immigrants. Lately, a part of the
population growth was absorbed by the greater metropolitan area, especially by Long
28
R o m a n ia n n o n im m ig r a n t s a d m it t e d in f is c a l y e a r s 1 9 9 8 -
2003
6 0 ,0 0 0
5 0 ,0 0 0 4 9 ,5 6 8 4 8 ,4 6 1 4 8 ,3 2 5
4 3 ,2 4 7
4 0 ,0 0 0 37896
3 3 ,3 0 7 a ll p o r ts
3 0 ,0 0 0
N e w Yo rk
2 0 ,0 0 0
12 ,8 8 2 13 ,0 2 2 12 ,7 3 4 13 ,17 5 12 ,8 4 4 13 ,3 18
1 0 ,0 0 0
0
1999
2001
2003
1998
2000
2002
Graph 2
Source: INS data
especially in North-West Queens. This increased concentration explains the growth of the
businesses that cater to the community, ethnic restaurants and food stores, travel and
Queens is a strong magnet for the new immigrants. The 2000 census counts a
majority of 44% second ancestry Romanians (i.e. persons born in the US) in the borough
Queens. The borough of Queens is the host of most of the concentrations of Romanian
ethnics, but important clusters are found in southern parts of Brooklyn, in Manhattan and
in the South Bronx. Queens Community Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6 contain 30 percent of the
29
total Romanian population in New York City. The greatest proportion of Romanians to
(2.13%).
There is a rapid increase in specialty occupation visas for the Romanians in the
past 8 years, showing a 356% growth of the young professional segment. The slight
decrease of the specialized work visas after 2002 is explained by the severe caps imposed
by the US immigration services after World Trade Center attack of September 11, 2001,
3
The weak employment opportunities after graduation in Romania displace a large number of educated
young people toward developed countries.
30
R o m a n ia n n o n im m ig r a n t s a d m it t e d w it h t e m p o r a r y v is a s
1 9 9 8 -2 0 0 3
8000
7376 7092
7000
6000 5947
5 ,3 4 8
5000 4 ,7 3 8 to ta l
4000 4 2 3 7 4 ,0 4 1
s p e c ia lty o c c u p a tio n s ( H 1 - B )
3000 2857 2727 e x c h a n g e v is it o r s ( J 1 )
2 0 0 0 1 9 9 0 1 ,7 5 7
1355 1476 1571
1 0 0 0 1 ,1 7 1 8 1 5 1 1 2 5
575
0
1998
2000
2001
2003
1999
2002
Graph 3
Source: INS data
and 65 years, very similar to the foreign-born population per total (79%), but much
younger than the US born population in New York (56%). The segment of professionals
in this community is increasing rapidly, but its ratio is far smaller than the national
median4. Explanations for this small number of specialty visas can be found in the
international agreements that determine more restrictive visa quotas offered by the US
4
In 2003, a ratio of 1.93 – which is the number of specialty visas to number of ethnic population – for
Romanians, compared with 4.08 for all US foreign population, and even more different than the European
median (9.98) ( US Census and USCIS data).
31
In 1908 the swamps covering the present Sunnyside were filled and the land
leveled by Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1910 the Sunnyside Yards opened, just one year
before the Queensborough Bridge was completed. The rail hub brought industry, and the
introduction of the IRT#7 train along Queens Boulevard in 1917 brought residents. In
1924-29 a complex of attached houses of two and a half stories, named the Sunnyside
Gardens, was built in an English Garden City style. The first American planned
middle-class workers affordable housing with high quality amenities and semi-private
green space. In the1940s and 1950s the neighborhood became white middle class,
predominantly Irish. Surrounded by industrial sites built along the railroad, Sunnyside
supported many local jobs. In the 1960s it attracted artists with their families coming
experienced their own version of white flight in the’70s – the displacement of the middle-
income population after the massive loss of industrial jobs – that led to large housing
vacancies. The 1980s witnessed major upsurges of immigration coming from Ecuador,
Colombia, Mexico, China, Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Ireland, Romania, Peru,
and many other countries, that formed a dense demographic mosaic. These immigrants
found plenty of vacant and affordable housing in the neighborhood. The native white
population – the three largest groups of an Irish, German and Italian ancestry – thinned
even more, as reflected by both the 1990 and the 2000 Census.
32
Prepared by Hunter College
Avenue and 53rd Street. The community spills equally on both sides of Queens
buildings north of Skillman Avenue. Another Romanian cluster is located south of the
BQE in the southeast corner, but this portion of Sunnyside is physically more connected
33
The Romanian concentration is located within a 10-minute walking distance from
the 40th Street and 46th Street stops on the number 7 Train, with a 10-15 minute commute
to Midtown Manhattan and a relatively good bus connection with other parts of Queens –
Astoria, Greenpoint, Middle Village, Forest Hills, Rego Park and Corona. Six restaurants,
a club and a pastry shop offering Romanian food are found here, placed on the green
Skillman Avenue, with a view along the street ending with the Manhattan skyline, on
Greenpoint Avenue or on the massively trafficked Queens Boulevard, along with many
other types of ethnic restaurants that make Sunnyside proudly assert its international
character. Among other Romanian-owned businesses are delis with eastern European
food and products, two lawyers’ offices, two parcel service stores, two travel agencies,
34
In Sunnyside, Queens (1.56% of the total population of the neighborhood) one
can feel the presence of the Romanians through the small clustering of businesses
reasons. Here is where the families immigrating in the ‘70s and the ‘80s (the beginning of
the new immigration wave) first settled. Sunnyside is also centrally located for many
Romanian clusters in Queens – Ridgewood, Middle Village, Forest Hills, Rego Park,
Astoria and Steinway – and is easily accessible by the number 7 train even from Midtown
Manhattan. The mixed character of Sunnyside and the lack of any predominant ethnic
Romanian-American Yellow Pages, a website that lists businesses located in the US. I
35
relied on information from peers and friends to locate firms that do not have a storefront
The most visible type of businesses are the restaurants and coffee shops located
on Skillman Avenue, Greenpoint Avenue and Queens Boulevard. Most of them have an
overwhelming Romanian customer base with the exception of the two restaurants on
Queens Boulevard which benefit from the tourist flow along the number 7 train and claim
just a 40-60% Romanian clientele. The restaurant managers adapt the menus: the genuine
The restaurant businesses flourished after 1990 with the new wave of immigrants.
Nita, the owner of Nita pastry shop, which sells creamy French pastry that doesn’t appeal
the American tastes as much as the Romanian tastes, started his business in the early
‘80s. He consolidated his business and noticed a big leap forward in profit in 2005
36
Other Romanian businesses dependent on Romanian customers are a parcel
agency, a travel agency, and two tax and insurance consultants. The parcel and travel
agencies offer good rates for Romania and parts of Eastern Europe and have a strong
eastern European clientele. The tax and insurance consultants started off as businesses for
Romanians not proficient in English in the ‘80s and continued as consultants for
Romanian-owned businesses in the larger metropolitan area. They do not limit their
services to the Romanians but the power of recommendation induced this ethnic pattern
of development for their businesses. Medical and dental offices (I found three offices, but
it is probable that there are more than three in Sunnyside) also follow the same pattern,
Romanian who never advertised inside the Romanian community, either in the newspaper
or on the Yellow Pages site, and has an affluent American clientele. Most of her
employees are Romanian young women schooled and trained in Romania, and also
37
This is an example of business owned by a
Romanian who does not seek Romanian
clientele. Though part of the personnel is
Romanian.
positions, as waiters or cooks in the restaurants, but some of the businesses have other
ethnic employees (e.g. Mexicans usually in labor intensive, less remunerated jobs like
developing the business. The owner invested in other two locations in Sunnyside before
opening a third restaurant, and is well known locally for spectacular debuts. All three
locals were “the place to go” for months after the restaurants opened.
Although the restaurants were popular in the 1990s, profits did not increase. S.
Standish from Stantax tax and insurance consulting (2006) explains this by pointing to
the increased competition that came with the increase in population. While his firm was
the only one on this profile in the ‘80s, his Romanian ex-partner’s new firm absorbed
whatever increase in customer base the population growth brought. The small Romanian
businesses are rather a form of self-employment made to provide enough benefit for a
decent living and money for kids’ school, but they do not generate sufficient profit for
reinvestment. One striking particularity of the Romanian business environment is the plan
of many interviewed business owners to retire in Romania. Their business plans are
38
affected by this decision since they are thinking about selling the business profitably, and
Businesses usually change hands inside the community. Most of them are
partnerships with other Romanians. However, many owners regard other Romanian
skepticism, despite obvious cartelization, is what stops owners from creating formal
Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, and are in the process of becoming members. The
reason for not already being members is that the owners couldn’t find the time to go
through the literature and complete the required paperwork since their businesses are
relatively new. Other businesses are self-sufficient without any plan for growth, therefore
they do not seek membership in the Chamber of Commerce or any other organization.
Since Sunnyside is not the neighborhood with the biggest Romanian population
(Ridgewood comes first) it was interesting to hear what the business owners in Sunnyside
39
have to say regarding the choice of their business’ location. Ridgewood is a market with
no chances for good profits, while Sunnyside has the upper side of the market. While in
Ridgewood small family eating places proliferated, larger restaurants opened only in
Sunnyside. Sunnyside’s biggest advantage is its central location in Queens and its easy
accessibility by car or subway, from Manhattan or even from New Jersey and Upstate
New York.
40
Romanian businesses in Sunnyside.
Human capital
people immigrated in the same short period, after 1990, and confronts integration
problems to some degree or another. From financial analysts working for major
41
Romanians hold a wide variety of occupations matching the variety on the New York job
market.
There are no reliable data available to show the level of job turnover,
unemployment and underemployment for this ethnic group, but from personal
observation I assess high levels of all three problems. The people affected tend to be in
greater number the less educated, but also professionals who are undocumented or “in
Professionals
citywide, if not national labor market (Green and Haines, 2002). They are proficient in
job hunting and know where to find information about employment opportunities. Often
they earn a degree in the US and take advantage of the information available for them in
schools. Some professionals come to the US because they got a hint about job
opportunities in a particular field from friends who came here first. They are computer
literate and obtain their job requirement information – job location, skills required – from
Internet. Sometimes, if the nature of the occupation allows, they are interviewed over the
phone and come to the US with a job and a visa secured. Among these occupations are
financial jobs (investment banking, portfolio and asset management, financial analysts)5.
New York as a global center attracts a great number of financial and high-tech specialists
working in the financial and insurance sector. Other Romanian professionals with a
heavy representation in the New York job market are attracted to the construction
5
The predominance of these occupations is visible in the composition of Romanian Business Professional
Association (description of this organization is on page --).
42
industry – as architects, structural and specialty engineers – in the rich Manhattan market;
graphic designers in advertisement; and fashion designers in the 7th Avenue garment
district. Medical doctors, physician assistants and physical therapists, displaced from
degrees, doctors accept jobs for which they are overqualified (as physician assistants or
requirements for career advancement, and also because they have poor contacts, as
newcomers, among professionals of the same occupation. There are architects working as
Immigrants seldom find themselves drawn into their new environment for reasons
other than economic. Later they discover that there isn’t any demand for their skills.
professionals in fields unheard of in the New York urban area, have to change industries
these instances are frequent. Specialists displaced by high rates of unemployment from
newly privatized mammoth state-owned companies do not find the exact equivalent of
their industry in the free market. Many times these professionals in industries without
demand in the job market fall easily out of status. They become undocumented, because
43
they are compelled by the time limitations of visa applications to immediately find jobs in
fields for which they are less qualified, and sometimes they fail to adapt fast enough.
community as well as in many other immigrant communities, have many sources that
who qualify for creative or technical jobs are not required to have high levels of English
proficiency, but because of their limited English they do not perform well in the job
hunting process and are less skilled for interviews. Considering today’s large number of
immigrants, they usually find themselves in competition with other immigrants for jobs
with lower wages, which are segregated from the jobs requiring excellent communication
skills (Drum Major, 2005). Limited English sometimes hinders the skill matching
research by limiting the candidate’s knowledge of employer’s skill requirements and the
If workforce development means matching the demand for jobs with the supply of
jobs (i.e. matching employers’ access to qualified workers and to basic information on
needs for workers in certain positions and the required prerequisite experience, wages
and benefits for entry-level positions, industry and organizational structure) – then the
New York market established an artificial equilibrium that favors workers less than
employers. Plenty of supply in the labor market makes the worker more in need to be
44
knowledgeable about employer’s characteristics. Without this knowledge, immigrants’
wages drop to the level artificially imposed by the employer. The employers keep the
wages low to maximize their profit by threatening the immigrants with visa application
processes. The lack of information on immigrant labor market is made less detrimental,
or less risky, by keeping the immigrants in an entry-level position for longer times or
even in positions for which immigrant workers are over-qualified, thus justifying the low
wages they offer. Thus in the dense market of Manhattan, the poor employment
Native employees are also affected, because the wages for their technical positions drop
artificially as well, or else they are replaced by other immigrants (Drum Major, 2005).
employment and small businesses, and many times immigrants become employers. This
immigrant community, like the lack of on-the-job training. For small companies it is too
Another factor that hinders entrepreneurship and entering into the labor force for
Romanians as a very young community, with 37% or over 10,000 people between 25 and
Often young mothers from low-income families prefer to work from home, but
cannot enter any venture because of lack of knowledge either of managing small
45
Also, wages of local jobs do not allow a decent living in dense neighborhoods of
immigrants where rents increase rapidly due to small-scale gentrification induced by high
concentrations.
A serious factor that limits the community members from obtaining better jobs
and entering new business partnerships is that immigrants rely excessively on their own
social networks. This undermines the job searchers’ ability to know the job market and
impedes the enterprises growth and their ability to expand to a large buyers’ market (in
other words, opening the businesses, whose formations were nurtured by the ethnic niche,
- wages of jobs in outer boroughs not enough to live on, which forces workers to
Cultural organizations
Churches
46
Important cultural aspects of the country of origin are forged into the social
created separate cult establishments coalescing real steering committees for political
The persistence of this spirit of the 1970s and 1980s reverberates today into a still
Orthodox Church under the patronage of the Patriarchate in Bucharest, and the
Churches, besides offering religion, culture and emotional support, are also prominent
services providers in the community. At the same time churches are essential sources of
information regarding jobs, housing and social contacts. As much as we can talk about
organization, the new immigration is gathered around cult and professional organizations.
church that became more and more crowded as the community grew. It has an e-mail list
active social connections with the members around the metropolitan area through
summer events, projects of a collective interest and a successful Sunday school. Because
it was built with the support of the Romanian communist government in 1984, the church
randomly chosen on a regular Sunday shows that people are uniformly distributed in low
47
Saint Nicholas Romanian church in Sunnyside on
a typical Sunday.
The people gather on the sidewalk for a talk
because of the lack of space inside.
The above mentioned St. Demetrios Church in Uptown Manhattan and St. Mary
Church in Elmhurst, Queens are perceived as being at the opposite end of the political
spectrum and attract a predominantly eldery, slightly smaller population that does not
There are a few peripheral churches with smaller numbers of parishioners, that
have ecclesiastical affiliations other than the two mentioned6. These churches also include
people from outside clusters and historically took strong political positions. While the
church in Woodside does not organize events outside the church and does not use any e-
mail list, the one in Astoria, which uses a rented space, conducts a substantial outreach
place in public schools spaces and libraries on weekends, and also a monthly publication
6
The Romanian Orthodox church in Woodside belongs to the Greek Archdiocese, and another church in
Astoria, known after the name of its priest (Father Damian’s church) has an unclear affiliation and rents
sermon space in different places.
48
St. Mary Catholic Mission in Astoria brings Catholic and Orthodox people
The Holy Virgin Ukrainian Church on the Lower East Side also gathers a small
number of Romanians, organizes a lot of cultural events of a multiethnic nature, and has
elegant social and exhibition spaces; it communicates through an e-mail list and a
parochial paper. Its events are popular beyond the Romanian community, but Romanians
comprised of political émigrés. The foundation’s most intense activity took place
immediately after the war, providing orientation and support for social integration to the
humanitarian non-profits in Romania, and also organizes in New York two or three
cultural-political events yearly that gather a broad range of intellectuals. It has a mailing
Romanian writers in New York form a strong network and have frequent
meetings for poetry reading and lectures. They network around the prospect of
Romanian writers called Scriitori Romani la New York (Romanian Writers in New York),
published in 1998. The magazine where they frequently publish articles and short essays
Visual artists network for group shows and auctions, but their meetings are
infrequent; they meet at the Ukrainian church on the Lower East Side.
49
The Romanian Cultural Institute from NY, functioning in the Romanian
Romanian government. It organizes cultural events for artists en tour in New York,
sponsors inter-cultural programs and has an e-mail list of over 3000 names.
group of more than 400 young Romanian professionals, primarily from New York City,
but also includes smaller groups in Washington DC, Toronto, London and Paris. Most of
the group from New York have jobs in financial and IT sectors. They meet once a month
in clubs and bars, mainly for career information and social acquaintanceship. They have
shows a median of over $60,000 of annual income for mostly unmarried young people.
Discussion forums, carried most often in English, on Yahoo! Group’s forum, center
around aspects of Romanian economic development and job hunting in New York and
elsewhere. Usually the monthly meetings gather approximately 20-30 new participants,
among whom one or two international guests are from similar professional networks of
other ethnicities.
50
RBPA members in a networking meeting.
Image taken from the group’s web site.
Restaurant and hotel workers, mostly but not exclusively undocumented, share
knowledge about jobs and hiring agencies. They create job networks by recommending
each other and trying to keep certain jobs inside their group. Their networks are not as
strong as the Hispanic family networks since a greater proportion of Romanians working
in these kinds of jobs are single or have small families. They tend to share apartments.
They change jobs frequently, so they often meet in the very few hiring agencies’
hallways. They do not interfere or compete with Hispanics in either restaurants or hotels7.
Truck drivers are a group with strong ties. The nature of their work requires trust
because they share the same trucks on different shifts and confront great risks. Truck
drivers who own one or more trucks rent their trucks to their co-ethnics. The partners
communicate through cell phones and meet as a group at the companies’ annual party.
7
They predominantly take jobs “on the floor” as waiters, while the Hispanics work in the kitchen. In hotels,
although the Romanians accept lower-rung jobs, they are preferred in other types of hotels than the
Hispanics. Waldinger’s coined term of ‘job queue’ is applicable here.
51
Professional groups with a significant informal component and a strong tendency
I did not have access to all the existing networks. I described only groups that are
most visible, and need because of the very nature of their activity, to make their presence
manifest inside of community. These needs are grouped around aspects of job hunting
(information share), job cartelization (i.e. keeping certain jobs inside the community) or
Table 1 shows how each group’s features play a positive or vegative role in
creating cohesion inside the community. Strengths are considered assets and
characteristics that have a general and open addressability, and do not limit larger
membership. Opportunities are those features that can lead to a socially integrative role of
the organization in the future by attracting more members through better exposure and
publicity, or through any other kind of social intervention. Weaknesses are the features
group. Threats are features that could impede collaboration with other organizations or
lead to exclusionary practices against new members, and therefore need special attention
52
Table 1: Romanian community in New York: SWOT analysis
-communication with
non-Romanian public
New York -access to newspaper -bureaucracy slows down the
Romanian -large e-mail list (over 3000 -new in New York and TV projects (needs approval from
Cultural names) -bureaucratic -leverage from Romania)
Institute -space for small concerts -priority for artists from Romanian institutions -it is an institution and not a
(NYRCI) and events Romania and gov’t agencies network
53
Source: Author’s observation and interviews
Social capital
fragmentation render the communication outside the ethnic group even more problematic.
While strong in terms of networks, the community is affected by the lack of coherent
churches built on one or multiple networks, remain the only consistent vehicles of
the quality of information is not always something one can strive for. They compete for
the same small reader market and are vulnerable to the political whims from back home.
NY Magazin, one of the two existing New York newspapers in Romanian, is somehow an
exception in longevity and independence, but is far from being ubiquitous inside the
community.
8
Considering Sunnyside the center of the Romanian community, periphery means Manhattan, Astoria,
Greenpoint, Middle Village, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Corona and Brooklyn.
54
The informal networks, in the absence of owned space, have their regular
meetings (a necessary condition for their social existence and reproduction) either in
conjunction with other regular events (e.g. church sermons, cultural and sport events) or
independent (e.g. RBPA’s first Tuesday of the month meetings, IMF biannual events).
The human capital these networks carry behind their modest appearance is confined to
newcomers’ needs.
Table 2 shows how often strong ties of mutual affective support add to the weak
ties, instrumental in providing information on services, jobs and housing, to create and
sustain the networks. Space ownership is not directly correlated to the existence of strong
Iuliu Maniu Rent, 3-4 times per year for public events
Foundation no yes Uses church’s social room for council gatherings
writers &
artists yes yes No
Romanian
Cultural
Center no yes Uses Consulate’s space
other
professions no yes No
Lumina Lina
literary club and Regular meetings in off-hours Romanian
magazine yes yes restaurants and public libraries
peripheral
churches yes yes Some of them own space
Source: Author’s observation and interviews
Community initiatives
55
Romanian Information and Referral Center (RIRC) in Sunnyside, Queens,
founded in 1995, offers ESL, computer literacy and resume writing classes to all
immigrants. It is founded with grants from the New York Foundation and two city
agencies. Although it advertises its openness to other ethnicities, the organization makes
itself known mostly inside the Romanian community through ads in the Romanian
announcement of the initiation of a project to build a community center was well received
and raised the interest of church members. The Romanian Orthodox Church recognized
the needs of a growing New York community and is adding one more level to the
organizational structure by changing the New York region from eparchy to episcopate.
The change officially took place in July this year. This change exposes the need for more
Fundraising objectives that commonly make Romanians coalesce are usually related to
affected by flooding.
Space is the most stringent need for almost all organizations and networks that
foster community participation. Among churches, two out of six rent space from
congregations of a different rite, while one is too small to host more community
56
initiatives and at times is overcrowded during the sermons. Cultural events organized by
NYRCI take place in rented space in colleges, theaters and concert halls.
cultural events, do not enjoy support from more established organizations because of the
Virtual networks like RBPA are not hindered by lack of physical space, but the
organization or institution, with the exception of the consulate and NYRCI, is assuming
this role of linkage even nominally. The Romanian consulate in New York, as an
extension of the bureaucratic system from Bucharest, has a cumbersome and almost
irrational functioning that repels the trust of the population. NYRCI is less burlesque, but
remains the voice of the governmental counterpart from Bucharest. Its one-way approach
of promoting the Romanian culture has little to do with the local reality, less with the
community in Queens.
phones, e-mail, websites, internet forums etc.) and are fit for the type of activities in
which the groups are involved. Truck and cab drivers need instant, 24-hour
communication, therefore they best communicate best with cell phones; RBPA uses e-
mail groups and forum talks. NYRCI uses e-mail lists and newspaper ads. Some churches
have e-mail lists and websites, while others communicate with the parishioners
57
exclusively through low-tech methods: through spoken word or billboard notes. Also,
attempt to raise funds for a general cause. A $50,000 pledge from the Romanian
community would have leveraged a $5 million grant from USAID for orphaned children
in Romania (interview with I. C. Tunaru, June 5, 2005). This case illustrates the church’s
cumulative efforts of community actors to exert their influence on public policy, and of
facilitated by any existing organization inside the community. RIRC is the only
organization that tackles issues not exclusively Romanian, but has a citywide and
statewide civil rights orientation. It has little capacity to address problems rising on a
Social services
58
New-comer immigrants of any ethnicity simply have no idea they are entitled to
social services. As iterated by Meiklejohn’s study, they do not know how to navigate the
information and the bureaucratic system. Social services that offer childcare, educational,
youth and job training programs, and health programs could substantially improve the
prosperity of the young working population by increasing their chances for better
employment.
City agencies providing social services, in turn, would benefit from better
information about new immigrants’ needs. The gentrification reflected in the 2000 census
data underreported service needs among immigrants. As a result, there were cuts in youth
programs in the past years, despite a visible scarcity of recreational, sports and after-
school options (Meiklejohn et al., 2006). Young children in families of immigrants need
Two main providers, Sunnyside Community Services (SCS) and YMCA, are open
The repeated encounters with Romanian interviewees suggest that the Romanian
community is not an exception to the general situation. Among these problems, the ones
There are not enough educational services for the newly-arrived, either young or
adult immigrants, such as ESL classes, American cultural norms learning programs, and
banking and loan processes learning sessions for both individuals and small business
owners. Job training programs are made unavailable to immigrants by the Bush
59
Healthcare services are considered unsatisfactory by many Sunnyside residents.
There isn’t any hospital in the neighborhood. In case of emergencies, the residents are
of mutual help. One involves a solution for the ever present space problem of the
Romanian church in Sunnyside: St. Raphael’s church donated the space for a fund-raising
There are many immigrant rights organizations focused on city- and state-wide
issues, targeting specific ethnic groups – the Latin American Integration Center,
Romanian Information and Referral Center (RIRC), Nodutdol, Emerald Isle Immigration
Center etc. RIRC is not well known among those interviewed for this study. The few
people who heard of the organization are not familiar with the services provided.
Public open space is very scarce (0.11 acres / 1,000 residents) (Meiklejohn et al.,
2006). Ethnic manifestations for this reason are limited to the use of occasional street
fairs in Sunnyside Plaza and on Greenpoint Avenue, where the Romanians have a weak
presence so far. In combination with the lack of community space in the Romanian
community, the scarcity of green space becomes a real obstacle for event organizing.
60
LaGuardia Community College (LCC) has shown constant interest in community
Also, the Hunter College Urban Planning program has conducted a comprehensive
planning study for this neighborhood, that further enables ethnic communities to establish
rental of school building space on behalf of local groups. For the green space problem,
the Trust for Public Land City Spaces Playground Program is willing to partner with local
could be very active in community building initiatives. For now it includes just a few
foreign-born members, and it does not include a wide variety of ethnicities (Meiklejohn
et al., 2006).
Most of the ethnic businesses are not included in the Chamber of Commerce and
do not take advantage of the benefits offered by the Small Business Services
boroughs (Hum, 2005). Reasons for the weak participation in local associations are still
and do not take advantage of the incentives offered by the City’s Small Business Services
is necessary for assessing immigrant business owners’ needs and for including them in
61
Greenpoint Avenue displays
stores serving the wide variety of
ethnicities in Sunnyside.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
Overview
constant pace of 300 newcomers a year, with Queens absorbing the biggest share, of over
60 percent. Clusters of Romanians are found all around the city, but the entrepreneurial
level from Sunnyside, Queens is not equaled by any other neighborhood. The most
plausible explanation for this distribution of population and businesses is that Sunnyside
functions as a center that captures the buying power of areas of concentration distributed
neighborhoods in Queens, as well as at larger distances in south Brooklyn and the Bronx,
the activities in Sunnyside can accordingly be divided between seven-day and weekend
activities. Seven-day businesses serve the population living in North West Queens, while
the weekend activities bring people from distant places to the religious services as well as
62
It is interesting to find out from the report done by Meicklejohn and Hunter
College students, “Creating Community in Sunnyside” (2006), that not only the
the weekends, but also the neighborhood as a whole. It is possible that the unique
location in North West Queens and an easy commute to Manhattan – induced in other
ethnic groups a similar radial geographic distribution and also a concentration of their
Sunnyside with other immigrant neighborhoods in Queens, what the Romanians’ case
illustrates is that a larger population than the one living in Sunnyside would benefit from
community’s economy through their buying power and business and employment
relations.
comprehensive plan for community development needs to take into consideration the
Community in Sunnyside”
63
The study “Creating Community in Sunnyside” renders the immigrant reality in
the context of a community development plan, and furthers proposals for strengthening
The six community planning projects proposed by the Hunter students are school
playground greening, 24/7 schools, involving youth through volunteerism, organizing and
enhancing the retail sector, creating a Neighborhood Services Information Center and
creating an ethnic market (see pp. 16) In this section I discuss the prospective impact of
community, open public space, if designed to fit the desired uses, is a good alternative for
organizing more community events, such as movie projections or cultural events during
summers. Cultural events would build on the weekend clientele’s predilection for
these kinds of events (e.g. Lumina Lina club, the owner of the video store carrying
Romanian movies, or artists and singers) can participate with suggestions on how they
This project can surely attract the Romanian church and Lumina Lina as clients.
Programs such as a Sunday school, Romanian writing and reading classes for kids, and
ESL classes gather people of different ages and backgrounds together, creating links
between networks inside the Romanian community. Another positive effect would be the
establishing of collaborative relations between the church or Lumina Lina and SCS.
64
3. Involving area youth: creating community through volunteerism creates links outside
the community for the young members as well as for their parents. This is a very
4. Organizing and enhancing the retail sector. A joint effort of the Sunnyside Chamber
the intent of increasing membership of new and immigrant entrepreneurs to the Chamber
would benefit the Romanian businesses greatly. The Chamber would be a vehicle for the
information needed to open the business to a larger, multiethnic market. It would gather
develop an economic development plan for the neighborhood integrated into the capacity
building strategies. In turn, a community development plan would inform the business
owners of potential growth strategies and help them develop skills that better match the
bridges for intra-ethnic partnership. Romanian business owners with renewed skills for
tapping into the larger market will further look for opportunities to open new businesses
in other neighborhoods with Romanian concentrations and develop them to capture the
to create sustainable bridges with the outer market and partnerships with local economic
Sunnyside as a center of the Romanian community would have an extra benefit from a
activities.
65
5. The creation of the Neighborhood Services information Center with resources from
service providers like SCS, LCC and the Chamber, accessible to all immigrants is an
initiative with plenty of direct and indirect immigrant benefits, ranging from improving
6. The creation of an ethnic market is a project that feeds directly into the retail
improvement plan from project number four. The study proposes two kinds of street
events: multi-ethnic fests, celebrating cultural diversity, and theme events, highlighting a
specific nationality or ethnicity on a given day. These markets would give Romanian
vendors an opportunity to build new relationships inside and outside the community.
Also, new enterprises can be tested or built here, at a low starting cost. The Romanian
events will bring Romanians from other parts of the city and will make the event
The Sunnyside Municipal Parking Field can be New proposal: a permanent structure attached
used as public open space. to the train underpass which would allow the
Prepared by Hunter College parking field to remain functional at all times.
66
For now, the communication inside the community between different groups is
the membership of different networks and advocating their various needs and problems
collective action (Chaskin, 2001), from successful fundraising to programs for the youth
openness for large membership, with the participation of various community leaders
whose stakes are closely linked to the community’s capacity – like business owners,
church and organization leaders – will play the role of liaison within the community. The
networks, rather than competition and mistrust. One way of building trust is by
The new organization will have the role of creating bridges between the
Romanian community and local community organizations and decision making entities in
Sunnyside. The study developed by Hunter College (2006) shows many instances in
which the volunteering of ethnic organizations as a starting point for local development
and organizing is welcome. The new Romanian organization may very well play the role
of a steering force. The professional support invested into it by specialists from planning
coalition will be a valuable acquisition for the community, while the neighborhood will
groups.
67
Mission
in New York, where the talent of the individuals, the assets of the community and the
values of the host society are integrated to produce a better life for everybody.
The organization will develop two kinds of plans: a long term plan, or a strategic
plan, based on the recognition of community assets and resources, as well as needs, and
already visible, making it possible to project population size and distribution, consumer
patterns, and use of community services and space. Immigration data is available from
decennial censuses and CIS annual records. Depending on the length of the community
project, population projections could use spans of less than ten years for short-term plans,
while longer-term plans can use census data as a basis of analysis and planning.
The new coalition, as any other organization, is an entity defined by its own life
cycle. The formation stage demands the rational use of the existing resources and the
(Chaskin, 2001). While short-term projects support the first stage of development of the
new organization by introducing stakeholders to each other and making their needs
acknowledged, the long-term plan provides continuity between the formation and the
consolidation stage.
It is essential to establish the stakeholders, the actors and the types of actions
68
collaboration and project implementation. Following is a list of suggested long-term
Thirty percent of the Romanians who enter the US come through New York City.
Romanians need to feel that the location of their first choice, New York City, is a viable
place to spend the rest of their lives. The organization should strive to combine
newcomers’ need for orientation and support, established Romanian New Yorkers’ need
for a vibrant community life, and the city’s need for an integrated use of social resources,
Communication:
- By disseminating information
69
Stakeholders
• business owners
Referral Center (pp.54), the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York (pp.55)
Stakeholder Roles
for a large number of Romanians since the last census in Romania counts 87 percent
Orthodox Christians. As mentioned in the second chapter, the church as an institution has
been divided by historic conflicts and grew divided over the past four decades, though in
the past few years, there were attempts to reunite the churches under the same
administration, and the churches engaged in common activities, for example fund raising
campaigns. Even divided, the church – providing emotional support as well as the
place where many networks intersect. Also, the churches placed in different
neighborhoods in Queens and Manhattan are able to strengthen the links between
Romanian groups within these neighborhoods by playing the role of community centers.
70
For these reasons and because these churches frequently have free access to newspapers
and other media, they are best equipped among community organizations to facilitate
intra-community communication.
or planning schools, church leaders and board members can learn about the
administration system and the existence of public programs, and become proficient in
establishing links between their institutions and organizations outside the RC.
By the very nature of its activities and owing to the trust invested in it by the
initiated by this church, and continued in partnership with other religious institutions,
• Extend and update the SWOT analysis of the community organizations and
• Church leaders: use the annual meetings of the episcopate and inter-church
Astoria), realized by bringing ethnic artists together, organizing art festivals and events,
cultural exchanges between institutions from here and Romania, would make the
71
presence of the community felt in this diverse borough and would create links between
the many established arts nonprofits from Queens and the Romanian artists. New
initiatives like the arts festival from Jackson Heights coordinated by New Immigrant
The Romanian Cultural Institute in New York (RCINY) needs to connect better
The philosophy of RCINY is that the Romanian culture has cumulated artistic
values that do not find ways to make themselves known internationally because in
Romania they lack the exposure of an international culture. By exporting talent the
are prone to tap into is the one that traditionally guarantees success – from Broadway
theatres to large art galleries and concert halls, to established cultural organizations in
New York.
their art features. By developing a relationship with a steady audience the organization
can secure minimal revenue for the expenses supported by the Romanian government.
This revenue can consolidate into a fund for acquiring owned space.
To develop such a relationship the institute must have basic information about
where the Romanians live, what kind of tastes and consumer patterns they have, and
subsequently include this information into the institute’s cultural strategy. As a possible
72
start, Queens could host a second representation of a recent play with a social theme
inspired from the life of immigrants in this borough, written by a Romanian playwright
and played by actors from an experimental off-Broadway theatre9. Even if Queens is not
a prime location for art and theatre shows, current initiatives of bringing art events in the
RCINY can use the help of other international cultural program organizations for
prospecting a real market for its arts events in Queens; events organized in partnership
with Queens arts initiatives like the one in Jackson Heights can spark other initiatives.
The new organization could play the instrumental role of providing RCINY with
information about art events and initiatives in Queens and other boroughs.
The New Romanian organization can serve as a partner with RIRC and other
ethnic organizations to lobby for more adequate youth and after-school programs. The
Romanian organization can volunteer for the role of identifying and creating alliances
with other ethnic groups under the guidance of SCS, YMCA, churches with social
programs and activities, or other CBOs. The new organization can communicate through
events.
9
Saviana Stanescu’s “Lenin’s Shoe” was played at Larkin Theatre in October 2005.
10
http://www.seveninternationalartsexpress.org/
73
The long-term plans proposed generally require an important change in policy for
each actor involved or a substantial extension of their activities into an almost unknown
field. Besides the serious increase of the expenses, this also necessitates better
information about existing planning practices. The monetary problem can be addressed
by the new organization by searching for the availability of funds (grants, advantageous
loans) from foundations that traditionally sponsor community activities and from
existing private and public agencies, and also by providing planning education to ethnic
Any of the churches can facilitate annual (or multi-annual) meetings with
- Needs and resources for educational programs and cultural events involving the
The groups and organizations would act in a different manner inside this
coalition, according to their goals, visions and existing organizational structure. RCINY
is a young organization sharing the dynamic visions of the new and ambitious
orientation in a larger sense. Moreover, the bureaucratic approach that requires approval
from Bucharest for every new initiative hinders the development of projects crafted on
11
This idea was previously proposed by Suzanne Singh (2003) in her study “Neighborhood Strengthening
through Community Building.”
74
RIRC’s activity is to some degree conditioned by the visions of its sponsors, and
the organization has relatively small impact inside the community. Its autonomy from
public structures and its location in Sunnyside, though, should be considered advantages
The Orthodox Church is the oldest institution and has direct contact with the
share their personal opinions in public meetings. Although the church’s administration is
divided and often the social networks inside one church act independently (e.g. groups
are divided by age or income12), it is still the single biggest stakeholder inside the
community.
1. Coordinate use of public schools built space on behalf of church, cultural and
community groups
The availability of the public schools space to the Romanian church, the poetry
club or artists from Romania touring in Queens can easily increase the participation rate
to these organizations and stimulate new initiatives. Thus existing and new organizations
would increase their membership base until they reach a certain level of development and
2. Get involved in the design for school playgrounds to incorporate functions for cultural
events
12
Author’s personal observations and interviews.
75
During summers, the outdoor space is proper for ethnic manifestations, from
certain ‘openness’ by not limiting the participation to the Romanians and allowing the
curious neighbors to participate. Therefore open spaces that are fit for this type of
activities have an integrative role in the neighborhood for all ethnic groups.
- research the existing organizations’ need for space according to their types of
activities.
3. Maximize the FAR for the existing church site to create more community space
The church on 48th Street presently uses only a 0.7 floor area ratio (1762sf), but
the allowed buildable area is 3125 square feet (1.25 FAR). If built to the maximum
allowed limit, the church can add a naturally ventilated basement (2500 square feet) and
two extra floors of approximately 700 square feet each. This building can include,
besides sermon space, a generous community and activity space, two offices and an
apartment. With a lot of effort from the congregation and other Romanians, and a real
estate project that takes into consideration revenues from event rentals, the investment
can be made feasible. Thus, the solution for the church’s need for space has the potential
4. Facilitate a relationship between RCINY-SCS and RIRC-SCS for grants for renting
school space
RCINY and RIRC do not have a community orientation for now. They both have
a unilateral view. RCINY’s institutional approach and RIRC’s federal and citywide
programs orientation can extend and diversify to incorporate the community planning
76
component. Even if this is a drastic change in policy requiring supplemental funding, it
would be for the benefit of these two organizations to build a lasting relationship with
community members through direct contact with them. The expenses involved will be
paid off over a long span of time by securing an audience for RCINY’s events and a
Churches have the potential to create alliances outside the community by seeking
solutions for general problems (space for events, improving street parking). The
Romanian church in Sunnyside can initiate a contact list of churches willing to participate
– Career development
– Entrepreneurship
extend the communication capacity of the immigrant group by means of connecting the
community members with the neighborhood’s new initiatives. The community outreach
plan developed with the help of the churches will be an indispensable tool for
The new coalition of stakeholders can begin to build the organization around
either one of the projects proposed here. The arts and ethnic initiatives involve RCINY,
the literary club or the churches as main actors. The creation of community space is a
project that interests the church in Sunnyside, Queens more than any other organization at
77
the present moment. The informational and educational programs would potentially
Further studies
be an exceptional asset with important economic and civic development potential. The
immigrants in the city. The businesses and ethnic organizations and institutions play an
important role in forming relationships and networks inside the ethnic community.
Signals that not only the Romanian community is so distributed in the geography
of the borough are present in Meiklejohn’s (2006) study. The Armenian and Turkish
communities form enclaves in Sunnyside13, despite their relatively low numbers in the
how the administrative system works will give immigrants a better chance of
employment and will encourage entrepreneurial initiatives. Improving the local labor
force and the neighborhood’s business environment can boost local economic
outreach, can be solved by the creation of the Neighborhood Services Information Center
Another hypothesis is that Sunnyside can develop recreational and arts functions
to feed into its intensified weekend life. The existing restaurants and churches are
13
“Creating Community in Sunnyside”, pp 31.
78
important magnets of ethnic population from outside the neighborhood. The ethnic
manifestations like street fairs, festivals and cultural events can bring important revenue
Also, the study of the Romanian community should not stop at the borders of
more precisely in Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay. These neighborhoods do not present
the same combination of advantages Sunnyside has, but nonetheless the concentrations of
their future studies the goal of clarifying Sunnyside’s relationship with other
neighborhoods from the point of view of immigrant population’s and ethnic businesses’
geographic distribution.
Conclusions
neighborhood. Not only does it establish guidelines for them, but it also – through the key
79
large participation – requires further deepening of the study to the level of each individual
group.
A comprehensive plan for the Romanian community in New York has a strong
foothold in the mentioned study due to the distribution of the population and ethnic
businesses and organizations citywide that renders Sunnyside a key location. Also, the
size of the Romanian community and other group’s characteristics – like unemployment
community one of the many ethnic groups with equal opportunities for community
The comprehensive study of the Romanian community evidences the need for a
in immigrant Queens. This type of research will take into consideration the development
potential brought by the strong ethnic networks whose interests intersect in the
neighborhood. It will also help the implementation of the proposed policies in two ways.
by similarities facilitates the creation of alliances and coalitions. Ethnic groups with
similar geographic distribution with Sunnyside as the center of their community life can
and should be encouraged to create organizations that nominally have wide membership
and are strategically oriented toward establishing relationships outside the community.
80
Second, the study will allow ethnic groups to better organize themselves and
increase their own community capacity. The technical and informational support of
existing community organizations and public agencies can help communities become
self-supporting and make use of their internal capacities in a sustainable way. Human
professional field. It is also important for the communities to be aware of the possibility
of redirecting the money spent on rent for purchasing space that hosts community and
recreational events, and the accessibility of public funds to supplement their resources. In
role for the many needs of newcomer immigrants. The new organization will create better
links inside and outside the Romanian community and will facilitate the planning and
81
REFERENCES
Center for an Urban Future (2003, September). Back to the Future. Retrieved January 28,
Center for an Urban Future (2003, September). Beyond the Boroughs. Retrieved January
Center for an Urban Future (2003, September). If They Can Make it Here... Retrieved
82
Cordero-Guzman, Hector, Smith, Robert C. and Grosfoguel, Ramon. Migration,
Fisher, F. (n.d.) Building Bridges between Citizens and Local Governments to Work
Foner, Nancy. From Elis Island to JFK. New York’s Two Great Waves of Immigration.
Friedberg, Rachel M. and Hunt Jeniffer. 1999. “Immigration and the Receiving
Hirschman, Charles, Kasinitz, Philip and De Wind, Josh, eds. New York: Russell
Green, Gary Paul and Haines, Anna. Asset Building and Community Development.
Griffith, M.W. (2005, September) Campaign 2005: Real Estate Boom; Corporate
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/communitydevelopment/20050921/20/158
83
Hayduk, Ronald. “Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the US.”
Hum, Tarry, 2002. Redistricting and the New Demographics: Defining “Communities of
Interest” in New York City. A/P/A Studies Working Paper. Retrieved November
http://www.newschool.edu/icmec/lucepaper5.html
Kligman, Gail. “Trafficking Women after Socialism: from, to and through Eastern
Latin America in the World Economy. W.P. Smith and R.P. Korczenwicz:
Raskin, Jamin B. “Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional, and
Sandercock, Leonie. Cosmopolis II. Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century. New York:
Continuum, 2003.
84
Sassen, Saskia. 1989. “New York City’s Informal Economy.” The Informal Economy.
Studies in Advanced and Less Developed Countries. Castels, Manuel and Portes,
Sassen, Saskia. The Global City. New York, London, Tokio. Princeton: Princeton
org.wisc.edu/papers2003/singh.htm
Tactaquin, Catherine, 2004. “Voting Rights for Immigrants.” Poverty and Race, v.13
Waldinger, Roger and Lichter, Michael I. How the other Half Works. Immigration and
Waldinger, Roger and Perlmann, Joel. 1999. “Immigrants, Past and Present: A
Experience. Hirschman, Charles, Kasinitz, Philip and De Wind, Josh, eds. New
Wucker, Michele. “The Perpetual Migration Machine and Political Power.” World Policy
85
APPENDIX
R o m a n ia n s a d m itte d b y a g e : fis c a l y e a r 2 0 0 4
Under 15
3%
1 5 to 1 9
65 +
3%
10%
2 0 to 2 4
13%
4 5 to 6 4
25%
2 5 to 3 4
30%
3 5 to 4 4
16%
86
R o m a n ia n s b e c o m i n g l e g a l p e r m a n e n t r e s i d e n t s d u r i n g f i s c a l
y e a r 2 0 0 4 ( 4 ,5 5 7 v i s a s )
6 5 y e a rs a n d o v e r
5%
Under 18 y ears
5 5 -6 4 y e ars
12%
6%
4 5 -5 4 y e a rs
10% 18 -2 4 y ea rs
12%
35-44 y ears
18%
25-34 y ears
37%
W o o d s id e -S u n n y s id e p o p u la tio n
2000
E th n ic g r o u p s
u n d e r 1 ,0 0 0
29% E t h n ic g r o u p s
1 ,0 0 0 - 7 ,0 0 0
38%
P e r s o n s b o r n in
US
33%
87
Woodside-Sunnyside population, 2000
R id g e w o o d -M a s p e t h p o p u la tio n
2000
Eth n ic g r o u p s
1 ,0 0 0 - 8 ,0 0 0
23%
Pe r s o n s b o r n
in U S
57% Eth n ic g r o u p s
u n d e r 1 ,0 0 0
20%
88
Total QCB5 population 166,394 100.00%
Persons born in US 95,098 57.15%
Foreign-born groups of over 1,000people 37,766 22.70%
Person born in Ireland 1,750 1.05%
Person born in Germany 1,616 0.97%
Person born in Italy 5,633 3.39%
Person born in Poland 7,714 4.64%
Person born in Romania 3,536 2.13%
Person born in Yugoslavia 3,947 2.37%
Person born in China 3,339 2.01%
Person born in Mexico 1,374 0.83%
Person born in Colombia 2,350 1.41%
Person born in Ecuador 5,461 3.28%
Person born in Peru 1,046 0.63%
R o m a n ia n s b y b o ro u g h
firs t a n d s e c o n d a n c e s tr y 2 0 0 0
B ronx
S ta te n Is la n d5 %
3% B r o o kly n
22%
Queens
46%
Ma n h a tta n
24%
89
F ir s t a n c e s tr y R o m a n ia n s b y b o r o u g h 2 0 0 0
B ronx
S ta te n Is la n 4d %
2% B r o o k ly n
23%
Queens
52%
M a n h a tta n
19%
S e c o n d a n c e s tr y R o m a n ia n s b y b o r o u g h 2 0 0 0
B ron x
S ta te n Is la n d
5%
5%
B r o o kly n
Queens 20%
26%
M a n h a tta n
44%
90
Persons reporting first and second
ancestry as Romanian (cumulated)
1990-2000
45000
40000
35000
30000
1990
25000
2000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Brooklyn
Manhattan
Staten Island
Queens
Bronx
New York
City
P e r s o n s r e p o r tin g fir s t a n c e s tr y a s R o m a n ia n P e r s o n s r e p o r ti n g s e c o n d a n c e s tr y a s R o m a n ia n
1 9 9 0 -2 0 0 0 1 9 9 0 -2 0 0 0
30000 14000
25000
12000
10000
20000
1990 8000 1990
15000
2000 6000 2000
10000
4000
5000 2000
0 0
Island
Bronx
Staten
Island
Bronx
Staten
Queens
Queens
Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Manhattan
City
City
New York
Manhattan
New York
91