New Report Reveals Large Senior Immigrant Population in the Big Apple

New York City's immigrant population is aging quickly. 

 

That's according to the Center for an Urban Future. The group is out with a new report. It reveals nearly half, or 46%, of the city's senior citizens are foreign-born.

 

The report also shows immigrant seniors face a number of challenges. It points out that 65% of older immigrants live in poverty. 

 

The report's author, Christian Gonzalez- Rivera said the city has an age friendly initiative in place, but the issue is whether it's actually reaching immigrants. 

 

"All the senior centers in the city only serve 4 to 5 percent of all the seniors in the city. So, it's incumbent on senior centers and it's also incumbent on the Department for the Aging to make sure that the services are being delivered in a culturally and linguistically competent manner," he said. 

 

Gonzalez-Rivera said the city can do a number of things to help its foreign born residents. "Making sure that all of the senior services agencies that have contracts with the city are providing services in a culturally and linguistically competent manner, and really being conscious of the immigrant groups that surround them." 

 

Gonzalez- Rivera says one of the city's first steps should be translating all of the information seniors need into their language.