About Karen Andolina Scott

Karen Andolina Scott is the Executive Director at The Community Mediation Center in Buffalo, NY since January of 2024.

Karen's advocacy career began in graduate school, where she processed immigration papers at a law office and interned with a Family Court judge in Erie County. After becoming a mother of two, she discovered Journey’s End Refugee Services, a Buffalo-based Christian resettlement agency.

Buffalo has become a major hub for refugee resettlement in New York State, with over 16,000 refugees arriving since 2002. Journey’s End is one of four federally authorized agencies helping to resettle refugees in the area and is part of the Western New York Refugee and Asylee Consortium.

Scott started volunteering at Journey’s End’s legal clinic in 2013 and soon joined as an attorney. She later became director of the legal department, expanding it from 3 to 15 attorneys. In 2015, she was named executive director, and eventually CEO (2022–2024), growing the agency's annual budget to $6.5 million.

Under her leadership, Journey’s End provided comprehensive services—from legal aid and English tutoring to job placement and cultural education—supporting refugees from countries like the DRC, Iraq, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Colombia, and Eritrea. Scott emphasizes a service-oriented leadership style rooted in passion and community impact.