Many refugees settle in New York. Last year alone, more than 2,000 refugees and special immigrant visa holders settled here, according to the state.

Most of them come to areas outside New York City, with Erie, Onondaga and Albany counties leading the pack.

While many are fleeing traumatizing and dangerous situations, as time goes on, they have to make new lives for themselves here. Building that new life takes teamwork.

For Mohamed Koroma, it’s a journey that started in Sierra Leone on April 5, 2019. His father, one of the leaders of a secret society, passed away and they wanted Koroma to take his place.

“There was a group of Poro secret society men that [...] took me and my best friend to a forest for Poro initiation,” Koroma said.

It was a dangerous process, with rituals that can include beating initiates, but Koroma and his friend escaped.

“Because I refused the initiation and the position that was given to me, they had to go after me and my family, so I had to leave Sierra Leone,” Koroma explained.

Over the next eight months, he and his family traveled through nine countries, dealing with smugglers, treacherous journeys and immigration, until they made it to New York and found help from groups like 716 Ministries.

“The amount of trauma and difficulty they overcome just to be here, dealing with that is is substantial, and then trying to adjust to the culture and find viable employment and generate some wealth to take care of their families is a major challenge,” explained Matt Johnson, the training director for 716 Ministries.

They offer people like Koroma three different training programs.

“We work on a one-minute elevator pitch, we do conflict resolution, we do simple trainings on punctuality,” listed Johnson, as he explained what they did in these classes.

It's all preparation for the workforce. Koroma took all three.

“It's very important for me to get a job so that I can take care of my family,” he said.

In Sierra Leone, Koroma graduated college. Here he’s quite literally building a career by working on 716 Ministry’s construction crew, with plans for the future.

“If I have the opportunity, I would like to continue my university, get a degree in civil engineering," Koroma said.

He has two kids, one was born in Buffalo. There's a third on the way. It was hard to get to this point, but with some helping hands, they laid a new foundation.

"You can see now I’m excited because I was granted asylum March 17 this year, 2022, so I’m now free to live here in Buffalo and the United States," said Koroma.

"There is a future for me and my family for here in Buffalo."

It's not possible for 716 Ministries to track every refugee that comes through their programs, but they say, of the third of people that they are still in contact with, they've all successfully found jobs.