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Our Vision

We envision a city where all immigrants, regardless of their origins or circumstances, have access to the tools and opportunities necessary for economic mobility, social inclusion, and civic participation.

Our Mission

Our mission is to help new immigrants successfully integrate into life in the U.S. by rapidly improving their English language skills, providing wrap-around case management and counseling, and offering workforce development, digital literacy, and community and civic engagement training. These supports and skills ensure that Riverside program participants are best positioned to achieve economic mobility and social inclusion.

Our Staff

BERTA COLÓN

Executive Director

DORIS ATHINEOS

TESOL Instructor

KATE GILL

TESOL Instructor

VICKI HALE

TESOL Instructor

YULEIDY LORA

Case Manager/Counselor

IMELDA MELGAR

Case Manager/Counselor

LYNDA METMER

Office Manager

NOEL SHAW

TESOL Instructor

ELIZABETH SPRENGER

TESOL Instructor

HUI FANG SUN

Data Manager

MARIIA VYNNYCHUK

Office Assistant

 

Board of Directors

  • Luana I Alesio, Board Chair

  • William Bland, Platform Partnerships, Stripe

  • Jasmin Chitrakar, Managing Director, Madison International Realty, LLC

  • Zahreen Ghaznavi, Assistant General Counsel, TIME

  • Nisreen Hasib, Social Entrepreneur

  • Becky Honeyman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, SourceCode

  • Nicole Horvilleur, Platform Partnerships, Stripe

  • Steve Mendelsohn, Non-Profit Business Consultant

  • Bipasha Ray, Former Foundation Executive

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Our Community Partners

African Services Committee

Andrew Romay Immigrant Center

Bellevue Hospital Program for Survivors of Torture

B’nai Jeshurun

Catholic Charities – New International Center

Columbia University – Columbia Community Service

Cooper Union Retraining Program for Immigrant Engineers

CUNY CLIP

Edith & Carl Marks JCH of Bensonhurst

Emma’s Torch

International Rescue Committee

LaGuardia Community College Workforce Development

Make the Road

New York State Department of Labor

Per Scholas

RDJ Shelter for Refugee and Asylee Men

Rutgers Presbyterian Church

Safe Horizon

Sanctuary for Families

Shorefront YM-YWHA

Streetwise Partners

SUNY Educational Opportunity Centers

Upwardly Global

Workforce 1 Center for foreign-born New Yorkers

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Our Results

Established in 1979, Riverside has helped more than 30,000 immigrants from over 80 countries learn English rapidly, thereby accelerating their entry into the American workforce or their pursuit of a higher education.

Riverside has a very sound track record and continues to outperform other programs:

  • Riverside is in the top 5% of all NY State adult education programs, based on the annual NY State Report Card measuring educational gain, employment, and other achievements.

  • 86% of our students achieve at least one educational gain after their 6-week class program. This compares very favorably to the State benchmark of 51%.

  • Participants learn in six weeks what it would take them one year to learn in a part-time program.

Gaining English proficiency increases our students’ career opportunities and potential earnings: Studies have shown that gaining English proficiency can increase immigrants’ salaries by as much as 20-40%.*

*Study by Center for Public Democracy and Make the Road NY, April 2016

Our Financials

Riverside financial records are below: