BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jericho Road Community Health Center hosted a community update Thursday morning.

CEO and founder Dr. Myron Glick said in 2022 the organization cared for nearly 25,000 of Buffalo's most vulnerable patients. It also sponsors community programs for things like early childhood development, financial education and has resettled refugees for years.

“I think it’s important for us to speak to the community about the work that we’re doing in Buffalo that goes beyond what people hear over the news," Glick said.

However, Glick did speak about the reason Jericho Road has primarily been in the news, as the local agency handling case management for more than 500 migrants from New York City placed in three Erie County hotels. In August, following some issues, including two separate incidents of alleged sexual assault and alleged rape, the county and city agreed to pause any further resettlement.

“I think things have gone better,” Glick said. “I think DocGo is learning and working with us in ways that are different than before. And I think things have calmed down, so I think there is a chance that in the future, at least as people move out of the current hotels, that maybe they’ll bring people in to refill it.”

He believes the "chaos" of the hotel model is not sustainable long-term though. The organization has a contract with the state to place 200 more asylum seeker families in the area, the first of which arrived this week.

“Folks will first have their work authorization before they come here,” Glick said. “We get a chance to interview them before they move and they get a chance to feel us out [and] make sure this is where they want to go, so it’s a mutual decision. And then when they come, we already have an apartment for them and hopefully a job.”

Meanwhile, the federal government last month approved Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, who represent the largest population of migrants in the state. It allows for expedited work authorization and Glick said he's beginning to see movement that will help get people in more permanent homes.

“I think we got the first family their authorization just real recently, so we’re expecting it to be an expedited process and about 250 of the people in the hotels are from Venezuela," he said.

Finally, roughly 200 more migrants who found their own way to Buffalo are living in Jericho Road's Vive shelter. The organization has renovated a new facility and hopes to move residents there in the next few months as soon as it receives city approval.

With all the work ahead, Jericho Road will do at least some of it without its founder. Glick announced during the update he plans to take a four-month sabbatical starting in December to spend time with his family.

The board has already named an interim CEO.