Special Sessions

Authorized Non-Attorney Immigration Law Practice:  The Tool You Need to Protect Your Community Now

SAT DEC 9 / 1pm-4pm

Community-based agencies of all sorts are getting a special credential to provide immigration legal assistance.  This is especially vital now as your community likely contains a large number of individuals who could move from undocumented to documented with the proper outreach, screening, referral, and immigration benefit application assistance.  Please join us to learn about this community strengthening tool and start working on your agency’s application.  Bring a list of the immigration law trainings you have taken, the budget your agency is willing to devote to this new program, and a sense of who are the immigration law experts in your community or network who can help you with technical support.   Participants are urged to contact the presenter in advance to begin working on their applications.  Jack Holmgren will present and can be reached at jholmgren@cliniclegal.org.

Presenter: Jack Holmgren, Catholic Legal Immigration Network

New Waves of Leaders - Candidate Training

SUN DEC 10 / 4pm-7pm

Overview: In the wake of the 2016 elections, it is now more clear than ever that our country and our communities need a wave of new people running for public office. We need  candidates that will put people first and bring a powerful voice to the issues impacting our communities. That means that we need to recruit and train people like YOU on how to run campaigns to win seats for public office and assume leadership positions in their communities.

Best Practices: This session will: a) give participants the nuts and bolts of how to prepare to run b) get people thinking about how to ground their campaign in what matters most and  and c) build a collective understanding of how we got to this point, and what it will take from us to make sure our voices are represented.  

• Running as an authentic community candidate
• Running a new type of bold and courageous campaign rooted in community

Strategy: It is critical to involve more under-represented communities, especially immigrants, women, LGBTQ people and people of color. With all of the attacks hitting immigrant families, we need to focus on training up people from immigrant communities to increase our representation in City Halls and State Capitols all across the country.  We need to make certain that our voices and communities are heard.

Presenters/speakers to be announced

Borders: North and South

SUN DEC 10 / 5:30pm-6:30pm

For years the Northern Borders Coalition and the Southern Border Communities Coalition have brought together organizations demanding justice for communities living along the country's northern and southern land borders. This special NIIC session will be an opportunity for those that attend to discuss ways we can work together to ensure that border enforcement policies and practices are accountable and fair, respect human dignity and human rights, and prevent the loss of life in the region. The session will focus on potential moments of collaboration for northern and southern border communities and advocates in the coming year. This will be an open round table discussion moderated by a representative from the Northern Border Coalition.

FILM SCREENING

SUN DEC 10 / 5:30PM-7:00PM

MAINE GIRLS Film (https://mainegirlsfilm.com/)  In Maine - the whitest state in America - immigrant students are entering public schools in record numbers. But as the population has increased, so have the number of hate crimes. In MAINE GIRLS, a diverse group of girls at South Portland High School learn what it takes – and what it means – to develop relationships with people who don't look or live the same way that they do. Leading by example, these teenage girls pave the way for greater empathy at their school and encourage other girls to step up and do the same in communities throughout the United States. MAINE GIRLS, is a 27-minute short documentary film and world premiered at the acclaimed Camden International Film Festival. It is available for educational audiences via Kanopy streaming services. Visit www.https://mainegirlsfilm.com and / or contact info@mainegirlsfilm.com to learn more.

The film screening will be followed by a short conversation with the filmmakers.

Consulates Meeting

MON DEC 11 / 11:00am-12:00pm

Description to come

A Changed Political Landscape: Implications for Funders and Immigrant & Refugee Communities

MON DEC 11 / 10:45am-12:00pm

The political landscape for protecting immigrant and refugee communities and advancing their interests has become much more challenging in the wake of the elections.  Come explore with funders and colleagues the implications for national and local funding and possible ways forward for advocates, service providers, allies and the rest of the diverse pro-immigrant field in the US.

Speakers:

• Daranee Petsod, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants & Refugees
• Geri Mannion, Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Suzette Brooks Masters, Former Funder and now Immigration Strategist

Moderator: Marjorie Fine, Consulant to the Four Freedoms Fund

Researchers and Academics: Integration Agenda

TUES DEC 12 / 7:30am-8:30am

Faculty and research center staff are encouraged to come to meet one another and discover what translational research is underway. This open discussion aims to foster awareness, stimulate partnerships, help set research agenda for participating organizations and universities. 

Facilitators:

• Hamutal Bernstein, Urban Institute
• Westy Egmont, Boston College Immigrant Integration Lab