Immigration Committee Examines State of Immigrant
Services in NYC
arlier
this month, the City Council Committee on Immigration, chaired by
Council Member Kendall Stewart, conducted an oversight hearing to
examine the state of immigrant services in New York City and to
explore how well the Immigrant Opportunities Initiative (IOI) is
functioning. Currently, the IOI distributes $9.1 million to more
than 100 non-profit organizations for English classes and legal
services geared specifically to immigrants. The City also receives
$11.3 million more in Federal Community Services Block Grants and
from the Workforce Investment Act to support immigrant programs.
Stewart pointed out that nearly two thirds of New
York City's population is comprised of immigrants and their
children. "Our challenge is to ensure that today's immigrants and
their families can climb the ladder of social and economic
opportunity and become full partners in New York's prosperity in the
coming decades," he stated. "There are individuals and organizations
that have displayed a special and lasting commitment to the needs of
our newest New Yorkers, and we at the City Council must not let them
down."
Among the agencies and organizations presenting
testimony were the New York City Department of Youth and Community
Development, Catholic Charities, MFY Legal Services, the Legal Aid
Society, the New York Legal Assistance Group, United Neighborhood
Houses, the UJA Federation of New York, Upwardly Global, the New
York Immigration Coalition, and the Immigrant Defense Project. Each
of the organization’s representatives was forthcoming in describing
their services that help immigrants become more self-sufficient and
improve their living conditions. They included: GED and other adult
education classes, job training, early childhood education,
after-school programs, teen centers, supportive services for the
elderly, immigrant women programs, mental health counseling, drug
prevention, as well as English classes and immigration legal
services.
One
of the questions Council Member Stewart asked those giving testimony
was how they thought the running of IOI could be improved. The
opinion voiced by Anthony Ng, the Legislative Advocate at United
Neighborhood Houses of New York, was shared by many. He emphasized
the critical need for a more timely distribution of the funds after
the city budget is adopted each year. This last time organizations
that received IOI funding in prior years were not notified until
late November 2005 that they were to again receive IOI funding, and
many new groups weren’t notified until January/February of 2006.
"This delay in awarding the funds made it difficult for ESOL classes
to start and for legal services to be delivered," Ng explained.
"Adequate and timely public funding for immigrant services is
essential in order to strengthen the capacity of existing programs
and to development sustainable community-based infrastructure to
deliver these services in a quality manner."
Council Member Stewart also brought up the fact
that, as everyone knows, there is impending change in federal
immigration law, and he inquired as to what each of the agencies and
organizations is doing to prepare for the sizable increase in
workloads this change will likely generate.
Atty.
Yisroel Schulman, President of the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG),
said that his organization is already in the process of hiring two
more attorneys and, in general, is gearing up to meet the upcoming
need. He said that his organization prides itself on its ability to
respond immediately to urgent legal needs, as it did after the 9/11
attack. Within 72 hours after the devastation, NYLAG had a
five-person immigrant response team set up near the World Trade
Center information sites to assist low-income immigrants. "I'm
confident that we will rise to the occasion as we have done in the
past," Schulman declared.
Atty.
Jojo Annobil, Supervising Attorney of the Immigration Law Unit at
the Legal Aid Society (LAS), said that his organization is already
informing immigrants about some of the changes that may come about
and advising them on what to do. Through LAS’s Community Based
Immigrant Legal Services Project they are already training
counselors on what they should look out for and what they should
advise their clients about. "We’re a work in progress at this point
as we are monitoring the situation and looking at what kind of law
is going to be passed," Annobil said. "But we are in touch with
immigrants at the community level, and I am sure that if this law
does pass, the Legal Aid Society will be there to offer its
services."
arlier
this month, the City Council Committee on Immigration, chaired by
Council Member Kendall Stewart, conducted an oversight hearing to
examine the state of immigrant services in New York City and to
explore how well the Immigrant Opportunities Initiative (IOI) is
functioning. Currently, the IOI distributes $9.1 million to more
than 100 non-profit organizations for English classes and legal
services geared specifically to immigrants. The City also receives
$11.3 million more in Federal Community Services Block Grants and
from the Workforce Investment Act to support immigrant programs.
One
of the questions Council Member Stewart asked those giving testimony
was how they thought the running of IOI could be improved. The
opinion voiced by Anthony Ng, the Legislative Advocate at United
Neighborhood Houses of New York, was shared by many. He emphasized
the critical need for a more timely distribution of the funds after
the city budget is adopted each year. This last time organizations
that received IOI funding in prior years were not notified until
late November 2005 that they were to again receive IOI funding, and
many new groups weren’t notified until January/February of 2006.
"This delay in awarding the funds made it difficult for ESOL classes
to start and for legal services to be delivered," Ng explained.
"Adequate and timely public funding for immigrant services is
essential in order to strengthen the capacity of existing programs
and to development sustainable community-based infrastructure to
deliver these services in a quality manner."
Atty.
Yisroel Schulman, President of the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG),
said that his organization is already in the process of hiring two
more attorneys and, in general, is gearing up to meet the upcoming
need. He said that his organization prides itself on its ability to
respond immediately to urgent legal needs, as it did after the 9/11
attack. Within 72 hours after the devastation, NYLAG had a
five-person immigrant response team set up near the World Trade
Center information sites to assist low-income immigrants. "I'm
confident that we will rise to the occasion as we have done in the
past," Schulman declared.
Atty.
Jojo Annobil, Supervising Attorney of the Immigration Law Unit at
the Legal Aid Society (LAS), said that his organization is already
informing immigrants about some of the changes that may come about
and advising them on what to do. Through LAS’s Community Based
Immigrant Legal Services Project they are already training
counselors on what they should look out for and what they should
advise their clients about. "We’re a work in progress at this point
as we are monitoring the situation and looking at what kind of law
is going to be passed," Annobil said. "But we are in touch with
immigrants at the community level, and I am sure that if this law
does pass, the Legal Aid Society will be there to offer its
services."
