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National Albanian Registry United States of America
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NY Regional team

Counting Albanian Americans in New York.

NAR — the National Albanian Registry — is the community-led count. 689 counted in New York so far.

6 ambassadors organizing the count locally.

Director of Outreach

National outreach director.

Sets cross-state strategy and recruits state directors. New York's ambassadors report up here until a state-specific director is seated.

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Iliriana Sela

Director of Outreach · National

New York ambassadors report to Iliriana.

Ambassadors in New York

Led by 1 state outreach lead.

  • Iliriana Sela headshot

    Iliriana Sela

    Director of Outreach · Bronx, Westchester, Staten Island, Brooklyn

    Iliriana Sela, MS, MBA — Director of Community Outreach for NAR. Second-gen Albanian American with family roots in Dibër; Physician Assistant and healthcare leader.

    iliriana@albanianregistry.org

  • A

    Arber Jashari

    Regional Ambassador · Staten Island

    I’m very active with our community

  • Ervin Toro headshot

    Ervin Toro

    Regional Ambassador

    Founder & President of NAR. From Fier, in New York since 1997; President of the AANO New York Chapter.

    ervin@albanianregistry.org

  • Leart Ulaj headshot

    Leart Ulaj

    Regional Ambassador

    NAR product. Product manager in New York; second-generation Albanian American.

    leart@albanianregistry.org

  • Klajdi Rroshi headshot

    Klajdi Rroshi

    Regional Ambassador · New York

    Born and raised in Krujë, I pursued my higher education in Italy, where I earned both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. In 2018, I relocated to New York City to further expand my professional opportunities and entrepreneurial ambitions. I am the Founder and Owner of KlinKlinINC⁠, a brokerage company specializing in freight forwarding and logistics solutions. Through dedication, industry expertise, and a commitment to excellence, I have built a business focused on connecting shippers and carriers while delivering efficient and reliable transportation services. In addition, I am proud to be the first and only distributor of Tibo IPTV and DigitAlb in the New York and New Jersey area, helping Albanian families stay connected to their culture, language, and entertainment from abroad. My professional journey has been driven by entrepreneurship, community engagement, and a passion for creating meaningful connections between people, businesses, and opportunities..

    Read more → Show less ↑

    klajdos@hotmail.com

  • Myzafere Alija headshot

    Myzafere Alija

    Regional Ambassador · Staten island

    Known in the local community

Why New York matters

A real count is where the work starts.

ACS 2024 estimate

56,959

Federal count

Community estimate

227,836–284,795

Methodology page

On NAR today

689

From New York

Capture rate

1.21%

vs. ACS

As New York's Albanian community becomes visible in the data systems institutions actually use, the recognition story gets stronger — for bilingual-ballot petitions in jurisdictions with significant limited-English Albanian populations, for hospital interpreter staffing, for school home-language reporting, and for university heritage programs. None of these unlock automatically from a count; they come from sustained organizing on top of one. The Census ACS stays the official federal source; NAR builds the parallel community count alongside it.

New York concentrations

Bronx, Westchester, Staten Island, Brooklyn

New York hosts the largest Albanian-American population by ACS count. The §203 list itself is closed to four language-minority groups (Albanian isn't on it), but state and local laws modeled on the same threshold are where bilingual-ballot conversations actually happen — a credible community count strengthens those conversations in Bronx-County registrar-of-voters jurisdictions.

New York ranks in the published ACS Albanian-ancestry counts at 56,959 (2024). Nationwide the Census counts 224,000 Albanian Americans while community estimates put us close to a million — and the same gap shows up here. NAR is the community-led parallel count that sits alongside the ACS, one self-attestation at a time.

Read the full methodology →

What's happening in New York

2 upcoming events.

Festivals, services, fundraisers, and community gatherings the New York team is tracking.

See all New York events →

Organizations in New York

105 Albanian organizations.

Religious institutions, charities, schools, and cultural associations — free to list, claimable by the people who run them.

Browse all Albanian organizations →

Businesses in New York

83 Albanian-owned businesses.

Added by the owners themselves. Listing is free.

Own a business in New York? Add it free →

Apply

Join the New York team.

Each state seats up to three Regional Ambassadors plus one state outreach lead. Volunteer role. Listed publicly. Reimbursed expenses for one local event a year.

Apply to lead Book a 20-min call

Or browse all states with open spots →