As part of their agenda while here in New York City, the group traveled to Jackson Heights, Queens where Alison Gardy, director of international relations at 92Y told the Daily News: “I hope they’ll see how diverse communities can work toward common goals. People live together here that could not live together back home. And they make it work.”
That’s certainly one of Grace Yeanay’s goals. She runs an organization that helps Liberian women get out of prostitution and poverty by teaching them marketable skills. Often, the women are from feuding tribes.
She was impressed by how different immigrant groups in the U.S. successfully live in the same communities.
“Everyone is different, everyone has their own ideas and all of those ideas can come together,” said Yeanay, 34, executive director of Young Women Organized for Sustainable Development.
Galit Toledano-Harris, 47, executive director of the Youth Renewal Fund in Israel, was similarly impressed with the area.
“It was a totally different experience,” she said of the tour. “There’s a place for everybody.”
