The Greater Rochester Malayalee community lives around the mid size city of Rochester NY, which is the gateway to the beautiful “Finger Lakes area". It is said that there is evidence for Malayalee presence in Rochester area as far back as 1930’s.  Bulk of the current settlers to the city and its suburbs include persons who came to work for the big employers of the time, including fortune 500 companies of Xerox, Kodak, and Baush&Lomb. Being an educational hub with institutions like Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester, a number of talents from around the Globe were attracted to Rochester area. Over the years, we had Keralites working in the Health Care, Technical and Educational fields started moving to the Greater Rochester area, which is largely comprised of Monroe County and its charming suburbs and the surrounding counties of Geneseo, Ontario and Wayne.    Towards the millennium we saw that America started welcoming talented computer professionals to the country and our community received a number of young families in this surge. Now we have approximately120 families with connection to Kerala culture living here. We are hoping that Rochester area will continue to develop and attract immigrants, thus adding to its own economic base.

From available history, the early settlers to this area included Mr. P.K. John and Rev. Fr. Idukkala. Though there were gatherings for prayers and celebrations like Christmas and Onam sadya (mostly in Church settings) prior to that, a fully functional, broad, Malayalee Forum was organized in early 80’s only. The India Community Center of Rochester, inaugurated in 1985, always functioned as the venue for most of the events. We were fortunate to have many leaders and volunteers who would dedicate their time and efforts for the organizations. Please see our photo section to see some of our patrons from the infancy of our Association.