ABOUT uS
Global Connections Start Here With Our New York State Capital Region Community
History
The International Center of the Capital Region (ICCR), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, has a 68-year history of welcoming and assisting international newcomers throughout New York’s Capital Region. Over the years, the International Center has experienced significant shifts in its community functions.
The Center was founded in 1956 as an informal dinner club providing hospitality and friendship to international visitors in the Capital Region. During the 1960s, its objective gradually transitioned into becoming a direct service provider for immigrants and refugees.
From 1956 to 2005, the International Center offered essential services to international newcomers to the area. Today, the center’s vision and mission have shifted and focus on increasing global-local citizen diplomacy, intensifying regional multicultural outreach, and deepening foreign affairs education and dialogue.
The International Center of the Capital Region, Inc. owes its founding to the experiences and efforts of John and Ruth Blackburn. In the late 1950s, the Blackburns traveled to Denmark under the auspices of a program called “Meet the Danes at Home.” Upon their return to the United States, they decided to establish a similar program for newly arrived immigrants from Europe.
In 1965, the Albany Rotary Club founded the Albany International Center in the building adjacent to Blackburn’s townhouse in downtown Albany. By the late 1960s, the Center had joined the Council on International Visitors (CIV) network. Visitors could stay at the Center, the city’s first bed and breakfast. Active volunteers and host families ensured significant hospitality and sight-seeing opportunities.
In 1971, the Center expanded its services to meet the needs of foreign students coming to the ten colleges in the Capital Region. Sight-seeing trips and homestays helped students learn about life outside the U.S. academic environment.
Embracing Diversity
With the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, the Center entered yet another phase and focused on services to refugees. The region’s ethnic diversity began to change rapidly in the 1980s, and the Center expanded its services to include legal representation for immigrants and direct services to all of the foreign-born population living or visiting in the Greater Capital District. The Center’s name and bylaws were changed to reflect the expanded service area and mission.
Over the decades, dedicated staff provided refugee and asylee resettlement services, immigration counseling, cultural adjustment services, vocational English as a Second Language training, job placement, citizenship support, and translation services.
The Center served an average of 1,000 immigrants and refugees annually from as many as 100 countries. The International Center assisted local businesses in hiring qualified and dedicated international newcomers as employees and promoted public awareness of the many international community contributions to the Capital Region.
The Center was unique in its primary focus on services to immigrants with limited financial resources who often struggled with adjustment to a new language and culture. It was also the region’s major non-faith-based provider of such services.
Recent Developments
In recent years, diverse internal and external factors led to another transition for the International Center of the Capital Region. Shifts in national priorities, international demographics, and federal refugee and immigration policies following the events of September 11, 2001, sharply reduced the number of refugees in the United States. This, in turn, dramatically reduced the Center’s primary federal funding – cutting operational resources by about 90%. The Center also was set back by the loss of its much-admired director, Helene Smith, who passed away in 2003 after a long illness.
To avoid suspending services, the International Center’s board and staff explored numerous options to ensure future viability; with the assistance of the Council of Community Services, they engaged in extensive discussions with other community service providers to develop strategic alliances.
The International Center’s board reluctantly took action at the end of April 2005 to end the provision of direct program services to international newcomers. Fortunately, the Board successfully arranged for the continuous provision of services to refugees and immigrants by transitioning direct services to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, which operates out of the Center’s former offices.
Since June 2005, the International Center’s programs have shifted focus to outreach, educational, and advocacy activities. The Center serves its local and global communities by hosting international visitors to the region (as the region’s officially designated member of the National Council for International Visitors – NCIV), convening educational exchanges and symposia, fostering dialogue on the contributions, opportunities, and challenges presented by the global economy, and advocating for greater appreciation and understanding of the international community in the greater Capital Region.
mISSION sTATEMENT
We cultivate professional, cultural and social exchange, and global thought leadership in the Greater Capital Region (New York State).
Vision Statement
We connect our Community to the world.
oUR
vALUES
Diversity
Economic Development
Peace
Human Rights
Diplomacy
Understanding
What we do
- Foster a welcoming environment for all cultures and ethnic groups where everyone feels valued and respected for their unique background.
- Empower professional international exchange in the Greater Capital Region to cultivate global partnerships, drive economic growth, and foster understanding and belonging.
- Connect our region globally.
- Cultivate a unified, global, and inclusive community.
- Promote the diversity, rich history, and unique assets of the Greater Capital Region.
- Honor the achievements of individuals in our community who immigrated here and are making our region a better place to work, live, and play.
- Educate and facilitate public dialogue for cultural diversity, economic development, human rights, and peace.
- Develop long-standing mutually beneficial relationships among people from cities and regions worldwide.
Board of Directors
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. People of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. We especially want board members who wish to raise funds and write grants for us!
Team
FAQs
I’m having difficulty obtaining a U.S. Visa. Can the International Center help?
We recommend you contact the U.S. Center for Refugees and Immigrants at one of their many offices.
The contact information for the Albany office is:
USCRI Albany
991 Broadway, Suite 22
Albany, NY 12204
Phone: 518-459-1790
Fax: 518-459-1876
Email: info@uscri.albany.org
Does the International Center offer internships?
The Center does have internships available. For details, please download and submit an internship application.
Does the International Center need volunteers?
Absolutely, and we are so appreciative of the work the volunteers perform. There are a number of opportunities, including hosting our visitors for lunch or dinner in your home. Please fill out our volunteer form and a member of our team will contact you.
