The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy at SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government to Host March 26 @ 2:00 PM Webinar on the Status, Strengths, and Challenges for Immigrant Women in New York State
ALBANY, N.Y. (03/17/2026) — The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy (III-RP) at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY, will host a timely public webinar on Thursday, March 26, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, titled “On Becoming Immigrant Women in the U.S.: A Strength-Based Approach to Leveraging Opportunities and Neutralizing Threats.”
A part of III-RP’s 2026 webinar series, the event will examine the status of immigrant women in New York State through a strengths-based lens that recognizes both the opportunities immigrant women create and the barriers they continue to navigate in their daily lives.
Registration is available through the Institute’s event page: https://rockinst.org/rig-events/2026-events/on-becoming-immigrant-women-in-the-us/
The webinar will explore critical questions surrounding immigrant women’s economic mobility, workforce participation, underemployment, language access, health care, education, safety, and social integration. It will also consider whether immigrant women face a compounded disadvantage at the intersection of gender and nativity status, including wage penalties, barriers to credential recognition, social isolation, and heightened vulnerability to domestic and gender-based violence.
Special remarks will be delivered by Assembly Member Karines Reyes of the New York State Assembly. The panel will feature a distinguished group of leaders and practitioners whose work spans journalism, education, anti-violence advocacy, immigrant integration research, and community empowerment: Maryam Ahmad, reporter and producer at WAMC Northeast Public Radio; Dr. Debbie Almontaser, founder and CEO of Bridging Cultures Group, Inc.; Dianne Morales, executive director of El Puente; Dina Refki, executive director of III-RP; and Nisa Sheikh, associate director of the Anti-Violence Program at Sakhi for South Asian Survivors.
This discussion comes at a particularly consequential moment in the United States. Across the country, immigrant communities are facing renewed uncertainty as courts, federal agencies, and policymakers weigh major changes affecting deportation policy, humanitarian protections, and other policies. For immigrant women, these shifts can have especially serious consequences, not only for their legal and economic stability, but also for family wellbeing, caregiving responsibilities, personal safety, and access to culturally and linguistically appropriate support systems.
“At a time when national debates over immigration are intensifying, it is essential that policymakers, service providers, advocates, and the public better understand the lived realities of immigrant women,” said Dr. Dinar Refki, executive director of the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy. “This webinar will bring together data, lived experience, and practical insight to examine the barriers immigrant women face, while also centering the resilience, leadership, and contributions they bring to their families, workplaces, and communities.”
The webinar will share the latest data on foreign-born women and highlight model programs and promising practices designed to address the unique needs of immigrant women while helping them overcome social, economic, and political barriers to integration.
III-RP webinar series is designed to elevate research, policy analysis, and practical strategies that strengthen immigrant integration and improve opportunity structures for foreign-born Americans across New York State and the nation.
About the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy
The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy at the Rockefeller Institute of Government advances the economic, social, and political integration of foreign-born New Yorkers through research, policy analysis, and community engagement. Its work supports stronger communities, informed policymaking, and a deeper understanding of the factors that shape immigrant integration across New York State.