Q&A
Updating and distributing information on resources for immigrant youth
1:42:00
·
7 min
Council Member Alexa Avilés questioned MOIA representatives about updating and distributing information on resources for immigrant youth. Key points included:
- MOIA published an online document in January 2015 listing city resources for immigrant children and youth, but there is no current plan to update it.
- The Office of Government Affairs has developed a general resource for all immigrant New Yorkers, published in multiple languages and distributed through shelters and other locations.
- MOIA representatives emphasized that while resources are general and not specific to immigrant youth, they provide entry points for conversations with service providers who can offer more targeted assistance.
- The council member expressed concern about the lack of accessible, youth-specific information, referencing the earlier testimony of a young person who had no access to information.
- MOIA's approach relies on general resources and referrals to more specialized services through hotlines and community-based organizations.
- The discussion highlighted a potential gap in easily accessible, youth-specific resource information.
Alexa Avilés
1:42:00
In in January of 15, Moyah had published an online document listing and describing city resources for immigrant children and youth.
1:42:08
And several agencies, mayoral offices, also contributed to the information in the in this document.
1:42:15
Does the administration have a plan to update it?
Tom Tortorici
1:42:21
No current plan.
1:42:22
The office of Government Affairs has developed a resource that is intended for all immigrant New Yorkers and published it in multiple languages beyond the top 10 and distributed it through shelters and various other places where it could be encountered by immigrant youth.
1:42:42
And I think it's important to note that although the resources are general and not specific to immigrant youth or unaccompanied immigrant minors, they are entry points and touch points where they may have a conversation with someone such as a Moi immigration legal support hotline operator who listens to them to understand what services they need and direct them in a in a closer way.
1:43:07
And so the fact that they are not specifically geared toward an unaccompanied immigrant minors.
1:43:14
In in my perspective, doesn't necessarily do them harm because they're guided to a place where they could have a conversation with someone, a case manager at a local CBO that's part of the Moia immigration navigation network or the hotline that can help them through it.
Alexa Avilés
1:43:36
Yeah.
1:43:36
I guess, you know, I I keep reflecting on the experience of mama do who had no access to any information and no access to any information in language accessible ways.
1:43:49
It's it's like mystifying to me that We have some generalized information on a website, and we are still hearing young people not getting any access to any of it despite claims of this intensive case management.
Tom Tortorici
1:44:04
Case management occurs in the shelter sites, and it's a bit different from the case management that I was referring to, which often takes place at community based organizations and nonprofits that provide sort of social services navigation.
1:44:18
And connect youth to resources, including school enrollment and other things.
1:44:23
I will say that Moia's engagement with the community goes beyond distributing flyers.
1:44:30
We've held multiple calls with community based organizations, community partners, advocates to hear from them, and to provide resources to the extent possible.
1:44:41
And those conversations will continue to happen.
Alexa Avilés
1:44:45
Yeah.
1:44:45
No.
1:44:46
I appreciate the work you do with community based organizations.
1:44:49
And we've seen here today that, you know, they they are doing incredible work with very little resources.
1:44:58
I'm actually more concerned about how the interagency coordination is happening and training and making sure that we have seamless policies across, and we don't have a situation like, that was described earlier happening over and over again.
1:45:17
So, I guess, how Moya is able to expand its resources across city agencies to make sure we are doing much better is is a primary concern.
1:45:28
So at an immigration hospital's April 2024 hearing, Moya had shared that they were pivoting, as you mentioned earlier, to action NYC in schools, to screen the 18 to 20 twenty year olds in our Hy shelters, and we're planning to surge resources to the youth identified in the screening over the summer.
1:45:55
To connect individuals turning 21 with direct assistance and triage the remainder.
1:46:02
At the time of the hearing in April, there were around 400 youth in shelters and 80% were from African countries.
1:46:12
What were the updated numbers?
1:46:13
And I think you mentioned this in your testimony earlier and the statistics from the screening process.
Tom Tortorici
1:46:21
Thanks for the question, chair.
1:46:23
So the sprint took place.
1:46:25
We called it a sprint because it was an unlimited duration of time.
1:46:28
It was also a pilot in some ways because Moi had not worked directly with DYCD, RHI shelters in the past and in this way.
1:46:38
Over the course of June through August of this summer, 170 youth were screened for immigration legal relief eligibility, including SAGE.
1:46:51
84 were referred for legal representation.
1:46:55
Sometimes that was referred they were referred to legal representation on their other contracts such as the IOI contracts by the an after the initial screening.
1:47:07
And there were 6 emergency age out petitions filed in the family court.
1:47:11
These numbers are preliminary as we await the finalization and validation of fiscal 25 Q1 numbers, which would more directly capture.
1:47:21
These.
1:47:22
But generally, case managers across the RHI system both in drop in sites and sites with beds expressed that the provision of services to that specific population was welcomed and needed and that, you know, while it is a learning experience for for all of us with any pilot, they would be interested in additional trainings and resources for the population.
Alexa Avilés
1:47:54
So for the 170 that you screen, how many individuals receive direct assistance?
Tom Tortorici
1:48:04
170 were screened and 84 were referred for legal representation with 6 emergency age out petitions filed in family court for youth that were within months or weeks of their 21st birthday.
1:48:17
And at risk of aging out of SAGE.
1:48:21
The team continues to work through the list of youth who were screened or scheduled to be screened and serve that population, including those that were identified for legal assistance.
Alexa Avilés
1:48:35
I'm sorry.
1:48:36
So the remaining almost a 100 young people, what happened to them?
Tom Tortorici
1:48:41
Could you please repeat?
Alexa Avilés
1:48:43
The so 84 got legal representation in 6.
1:48:47
You did age out petitions.
1:48:49
What happened to to the remaining young people?
Tom Tortorici
1:48:53
I'll have to check back at the numbers, but I believe that youth that did not receive legal representation It was either because their case wasn't ready to proceed.
1:49:04
For instance, they may not have had a trustworthy adult identified as a guardian, which would be needed to proceed a message case.
1:49:11
They may have been determined to be ineligible for immigration relief of some sort.
1:49:16
They may have already had an attorney or have already filed the necessary petitions or applications.
1:49:22
And so I don't have a specific breakdown of the reasons why more youth were not referred for legal representation.
1:49:30
However, those are some of common reasons.