| Make the Road New York (MRNY) | |
| Logo Alt: | Make the Road NY logo |
| Predecessor: | Make the Road by Walking and Latin American Integration Center |
| Founders: | Oona Chatterjee, Ana Maria Archila,[1] and Andrew Friedman |
| Registration Id: | 11-3344389 |
| Leader Title: | Co-Executive Directors |
| Leader Name: | Arlenis Morel, Jose Lopez and Theo Oshiro |
| Website: | https://maketheroadny.org/ |
Make the Road New York (MRNY) is the largest progressive grassroots immigrant-led organization in New York state.[2] The organization works on issues of workers' rights; immigrant and civil rights; environmental and housing justice; justice for transgender, gender nonconforming, intersex, and queer (TGNCIQ) people; and educational justice.[3] It has over 23,000 members[4] and five community centers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and Westchester County.[5]
During the Donald Trump administration, Make the Road New York made national headlines for its work to end major banks’ financing of private prisons and immigrant detention centers[6] and for leading protests at JFK Airport after the administration's January 27, 2017, announcement of an executive order suspending entry to refugees and to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.[7]
At the state level, the organization has championed legislation for immigrant New Yorkers, such as the New York Dream Act, which gives undocumented students access to financial resources in higher education,[8] and the State Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, restoring access to driver's licenses for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.[9]
There are sister Make the Road organizations[10] in Connecticut,[11] New Jersey,[12] Pennsylvania,[13] and Nevada.[14]
Make the Road New York was created in 2007 through the merger of two New York City-based organizations, Make the Road by Walking and the Latin American Integration Center.
Make the Road by Walking (MRBW) was a Bushwick, Brooklyn-based community organization founded in 1997 by low-income community members of color motivated by the belief that "the center of leadership must be within the community."[15] It helped community members organize in order to change the public conversation about welfare and improving policy.[16]
The Latin American Integration Center (LAIC), founded in 1992 in Jackson Heights, Queens, provided support to Latin American immigrants in the form of community organizing, adult education, and citizenship assistance.[17]
Make the Road New York opened a Long Island office in Brentwood in 2012 to serve Nassau and Suffolk Counties’ growing immigrant communities.[18] In 2018, through a merger with the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, it began working with immigrant and working-class communities in Westchester County out of its White Plains Office.[19]
In April 2021, co-executive directors Deborah Axt and Javier Valdés stepped down, and Arlenis Morel, Jose Lopez, and Theo Oshiro became the new co-executive directors.[20]