We Are New York

A two-time Emmy Award-winning broadcast TV drama used as an English language and civic engagement tool for immigrant New Yorkers. Kayhan co-wrote the scripts and created a linked, community-based conversation initiative bringing thousands of immigrants together from all five boroughs to practice English in volunteer-led conversation groups. 

Kayhan created a training framework to prepare volunteer facilitators to hold welcoming circles where people could discuss everyday problems and build solutions. Kayhan and her team created educational comic books based on the series which were translated into five languages and distributed in NYC public hospitals, courts, community-based organizations, and local meeting places.

We Are New York was a project of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Adult Education and the City University of New York and continues through the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. It has been renamed as We Speak NYC and has a host of educational material for free.