Immigration Project News

The Immigration Project Board of Directors met for its annual meeting on June 7, 2014.  During the meeting, the Board honored Merwyn Nelson for his ten years of devoted service to the Immigration Project as a board member and volunteer.  Although he will no longer serve as a board member, Merwyn stated, “I will continue helping with immigrants through ESL classes and helping them study for citizenship and passing out information flyers and business cards for Immigration Project.”

The Board also thanked Claudia Fabian for her four years of service as a board member, and, most notably, for her leadership as President.  As she prepares for advancement with the Illinois Department of Public Health – Vital Records, Claudia reflected, “It has been an honor to be a part of this board and to serve with you… I leaned so much, got to know many of you (which probably would have not happened if not for IP) and had lots of fun too so, what else can one ask for?”

Back (l to r): Elizabeth Rompf Bruen, Randall Rapp, Kris Olson, Carolyn Nadeau, Merwyn Nelson, Alex Enyart, Ricardo Díaz.

Front: María Sánchez-Ley, Laurie Bergner, Claudia Fabian.  Not pictured: Tim Flavin, John Groves, Carol Juen, Matt Kuenning

WSIL filmed Christine Howe, our Citizenship Coordinator, while she conducted a citizenship information meeting in Carbondale last month.  Read the article and view the video.

Join us on Saturday, September 14 and learn more about being a volunteer as a member of the Volunteer Citizenship Team.  One of our rewarding programs is to help any Legal Permanent Resident (i.e., “green card” holder) to naturalize (become a U.S. citizen).  We inform them of the process and how we can help; we process their paperwork–complete and review their applications–and forward it to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.  Then we follow them through the process from fingerprinting to exam/interview to oath ceremony.  If an in-state client’s case qualifies under a grant program called the New Americans Initiative, we provide this assistance for only $10 per person because the grant funds the rest of the processing cost.

The Volunteer Citizenship Team is crucial to all phases of this process and works directly with clients (if desired) or does follow-up case management database work or helps with outreach efforts.  This team volunteers in our home office in Bloomington but serves clients all over downstate Illinois through phone, email, or Skype.  We ask for an average of two hours per week and are very flexible with your schedule (within the normal daytime work hours).  There are occasional Saturday opportunities.

We are aiming to have at least 12 committed persons –50% students and 50% community residents.  We also are looking for a language mix of about 60% only English speaking; about 30% bilingual English/Spanish, and about 10% bilingual English/French.  We will have an overview from 9-10 a.m.  If you decide this volunteer opportunity is a good fit for you, stick around for the 3-hour training (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).  We will provide light refreshments!

Contact Volunteer Coordinator Christine Howe at chowe@immigrationproject.org or at 309.829.8703.