Immigrant services group gets an East Side office

“There’s a large Hispanic population, but there’s also a number of Haitian immigrants there and people from other backgrounds that we are so eager to welcome to our new center.” Anka Badurina, Building One Community pesidentt

STAMFORD — The immigrant services nonprofit Building One Community will open a second location in the East Side, the organization announced Monday.

Building One Community said in a news release that it expects to run its Immigration Legal Services, Family and Individual Services, Workforce Development and administrative services out of its new East Side flagship at 417 Shippan Ave.

Instructors will continue to teach its English language learning classes out of the original Selleck Street location.

Moving to “the East Side of Stamford is something that we had in mind since we opened 11 years ago,” Building One Community President Anka Badurina said. The limitations of the B1C warehouse became more apparent during the pandemic.

The air filtration at Selleck Street limited what services they could run out of the space, Badurina said. Plus, with their lease on the West Side ending, finding a place that could meet the growing organization’s needs was front of mind.

Even more so in the last decade, the East Side has steadily transformed into a hub for the city’s immigrant populations, especially for Hispanic and Latino residents. The number of Hispanics in the East Side increased significantly between 2010 and 2020, according to Census data.

Now, the neighborhood has the second-largest Latino population by percentage, behind only the West Side.

And even though Building One Community visibly aids Spanish-speaking immigrants in Stamford, it’s not the only group Badurina says they will be able to better help at the new office.

“There’s a large Hispanic population, but there’s also a number of Haitian immigrants there and people from other backgrounds that we are so eager to welcome to our new center,” she said.

The nonprofit will begin the services rollout at Shippan Avenue on Saturday by hosting citizenship classes from the new location. All other services launch for clients at the East Side flagship early next week.

On the East Side, Building One Community will operate its hiring site and citizenship classes weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., depending on demand.

All other programs, and the administrative office, will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Weekend services will depend on “program demand.”

Services aren’t the only thing moving from the West Side to the East Side.

In the name of preserving some of the familiar elements from 75 Selleck St., the nonprofit plans to repaint its signature Stamford mural at the new office.

Hours for the West Side hub are available on the Building One Community website.