
By Andrea Sachs
It’s a Thursday in June, and dozens of students begin to make their way into an Upper West Side building for their midday class. Dressed in casual clothes, they might be mistaken for a college crowd, although upon second look, some are noticeably older. There is a palpable sense of anticipation, energy, excitement. Something special is about to happen.
It’s time for the level 3 (intermediate) English conversation class. Unlike many of us who studied languages in a desultory fashion in high school, these pupils keep their eye on the prize. Learning English is the key to the kingdom for these recent immigrants and refugees from war-torn and troubled locales around the world.
The nondescript doorway on West 89th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue that they are entering, in fairness, should be adorned with a bronze plaque like the one embedded in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Riverside Immigrant Services and Empowerment is a remarkable place of safe harbor for the same kind of “wretched refuse” that Emma Lazarus wrote about so compassionately in her world-famous poem emblazoned there:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
— “The New Colossus” (1883)

“Riverside is a hidden gem on the UWS,” says Pamela Bayless, a veteran writer, communications consultant, educator, and longtime volunteer there. Since 1979, the program has helped more than 34,000 documented immigrants from more than 80 countries to learn English rapidly, which speeds up their entry into the American workforce or higher education system. Participants learn in six weeks of intensive English, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, what it would take a year to learn in a part-time program. Riverside is a nonprofit organization, receiving funding from the city, state, and federal government and community partners, as well as tax-deductible donations from individuals.
Fourteen years ago, Bayless spotted a flyer for the organization (then known as the Riverside Language School) in an UWS library. “As a former foreign language teacher, my curiosity was piqued,” she says. Bayless liked what she saw and stuck around. She has since become an invaluable volunteer member of the impressive Riverside team.

Berta Colón, the dynamic executive director of Riverside, sings Bayless’ praises. “Pam has gone above and beyond in terms of how she supports the participants. She doesn’t see herself as an outsider. This is our goal. We want anybody who’s involved with Riverside to see themselves as part of our community. It’s really all hands on deck. This is a major set of challenges that we’re dealing with.”
Because of the special role Pamela Bayless has played in the lives of hundreds of immigrants, West Side Rag is naming her the Upper West Sider of the Month for June.

The animated crowd of students is now seated in a 90-minute conversation class, gathered around several folding tables. In front of each participant, there is a notecard with his or her first name. Bayless takes her seat at a table as the students change tables around her every 30 minutes, allowing them to speak with other Riverside volunteers as well.
To a visitor, the experience is like global speed dating, with everyone you meet from a different continent. Here’s Yurii from Ukraine, Elhadj from Guinea, Luscon from Haiti. Throughout, Bayless is pitch perfect — warm, friendly and helpful. She goes around the table, asking each of the students where they are from and where they live in NYC. You see them light up as soon as she singles them out; being newly arrived in the U.S. and not knowing the language must be a lonely experience for many of them.
Though the mood is informal and light-spirited, this is not idle chitchat. This is how the students are helped to master their new surroundings. Pamela shows them subway maps and makes sure that each one’s route to school is the most direct possible. What are their plans for the weekend? she asks. Anyo from the Dominican Republic gets a chuckle when he admits that his big trip will be to the laundry. The newly arrived students are already becoming proficient in English. Bayless surveys the group about their reactions to their new cuisine. Abdoul from Guinea likes pizza and spaghetti, while Max from Russia likes steaks. Fast food gets a thumbs up from everyone. Bayless offers suggestions for free activities in the city and nearby destinations available by train and bus.

These students have literally won the lottery by being selected for this tuition-free program: admission to Riverside is by lottery, since its six-week sessions can accommodate just 140 students per class cycle. The demographics of the ever-changing student population mirror whatever is happening in the world. Some have studied English here while they are losing family members to wars in their native lands.
Pointing to a map of the United States, Bayless tells the students at her table, “I am from Kansas City, the center of the country. They grow cattle in Kansas.” Bayless’ father was in the insurance business and her mother was a teacher. She says that her parents were actively involved in helping others through the PTA, the church, and the Scouts, “It wasn’t known as volunteering then, because most people did it.” Like many New Yorkers, she knew early that she wanted to move here. “I think I was a New Yorker starting at age 12. I had never visited, but I often read about it,” she recalls. After graduating from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, she moved to Manhattan in 1967. “Loved it from the start!” she says. Bayless has lived on the UWS since 1970, “after a brief stay on the Upper East Side where I didn’t get a sense of community,”
Her first job was a brief tour of duty in book publishing, long enough to know that it wasn’t for her. She then spent “an eye-opening year at the Committee for Economic Development, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank, ”traveling around the country making arrangements for conferences. Those were the days when women were called secretaries, and typing was always a requirement,” she adds. To escape those typing jobs, Bayless went to Columbia Teachers College for an MA in French. A few years later, she received an MS at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
Warning: reading Bayless’ subsequent resume is dizzying. Among her many prestigious positions, she has been an editor at publications such as Newsweek International, the Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, Crain’s New York Business, and Self magazine; been published in The New York Times and numerous other newspapers and magazines; taught at Baruch College, City University of New York, and State University of New York; served as the Vice President of Communications for the YMCA of Greater New York; and done communications consulting for leading business and nonprofit organizations. You get the idea. Which brings up the question of why she finds volunteering her time pro bono so appealing. She grows rhapsodic: “I love everything about Riverside — its exceptional staff, teachers, and especially students. I always leave our sessions energized, with a smile on my face.”

She and her colleagues at Riverside are well aware that these are fraught days for immigrants in this country. Half of Americans, including 42% of Democrats, say they’d support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a new Axios Vibes survey by the Harris Poll. Still, they come by the millions, because of poverty, political oppression at home, wars, or the dream of a better life. The number of immigrants to the U.S. jumped to the highest level in two decades this year, according to estimates released in April by the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. added 1.6 million people, more than two-thirds of whom came from international migration.
Riverside, undaunted, is currently expanding its mission. In addition to immersive English language instruction, they now provide ESL-centered workforce development and digital literacy skills; an expanded set of social-service supports; and community and civic engagement and training to empower and amplify the voices of their community. Pamela Bayless is likewise undeterred by the high-pitched vitriol sometimes directed at the immigrant population. “As domestic turmoil threatens to upend our country’s traditional acceptance of immigrants, I’m proud to be part of Riverside’s efforts to counter that negative trend with courageous and productive actions,” she says. And they are equally proud to have her, too.
Thanks to Lisa Kava for discovering Riverside Immigrant Services and Empowerment.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
‘Language is not everything in education but without language everything is nothing in education.’ (Wolff 2006)
Well-deserved recognition for this lady!
This made my day. Thank you, Pamela! Amazing story and well-deserved recognition.
Congratulations, Pamela! What a wonderful read this was!
Bravo Pam, who I had the pleasure of working with at Self Magazine. You have always led by example in making a difference..
Brava Ms Bayless! You are a credit to our community.
Very commendable. Hopefully they’re helping the illegal aliens also.
Wonderful article about an amazing organization. Kudos to Pamela for her dedication to such a worthwhile program.
Well deserved. Ms Bayless epitomizes the best values of the West Side – smart, compassionate, effective.
This is an excellent article. It is great to learn about wonderful citizens of the Upper West Side. The writing style of the writer is enjoyable as well.
Wonderful story! Wonderful program!