Q&A
Council member inquires about Moya's efforts for Know Your Rights workshops and community outreach
2:19:41
ยท
5 min
Council Member Shekar Krishan questions Commissioner Manuel Castro and Chief Policy Advisor Lorena Lucero about the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs' (MOIA) efforts to inform immigrants of their rights through workshops and community outreach. The officials describe ongoing and planned initiatives to address the concerns.
- MOIA is working with community organizations, faith-based groups, and public institutions to empower immigrants with information
- 240 Know Your Rights sessions are planned from January to June, with a focus on shelters, faith-based institutions, schools, and libraries
- Officials emphasize the need to balance proactive outreach with avoiding panic in immigrant communities
Shekar Krishan
2:19:41
Thank you, chair.
2:19:43
I just wanted to follow-up my questions I was asking before, and I think, you know, council member Brewer and I were were saying the same thing, which is more is required here in this situation, and it's very concerning.
2:19:55
I understand the written guidance and the communication with agencies, but I'd like to hear more about what efforts this administration and Moya is taking.
2:20:04
And I understand the mayor has not given you all the budget that you need.
2:20:08
You won't say it, but I will say that, and you need to be doing far more, to to fund you all in this effort given what's coming.
2:20:15
So my question is you know, I understand commissioner before, as you said, there may not be protections in place for sensitive vocations, but what effort is Moyo making to run Know Your Rights workshops in schools, in, you know, early child education centers, in faith based institutions, partnering with legal services organizations, other immigrants rights groups on the ground to be out there as much as possible, informing people of their rights, and their access to resources?
Manuel Castro
2:20:41
Thank you, council member.
2:20:44
As I said previously, our work is ongoing.
2:20:47
We are describing what we have done in the, let's say, first phase the last about 2 months post elections, but we, will be, working very, very closely with, in particular, community rooted organizations, faith based organizations, and other public institutions like libraries, and, schools and so on to make sure that people are empowered with the information they need.
2:21:15
And setting up, an infrastructure so that we can communicate, in a timely manner, about what, you know, actions may be taking place, so that people get accurate information.
2:21:32
As you may recall, 8 years ago, there was a lot of misinformation that led to panic in the community.
2:21:39
We do not want to see a situation where our communities, you know, fear living in their communities and, continue to or go further in the shadows and stop utilizing critical, often lifesaving city services.
2:21:59
And that's a big part of our role.
2:22:01
Again, I will be sharing more concrete steps as we are exploring our options.
2:22:08
1 of which actually, director Schaeffer mentioned, we are partnering and working closely together to reenvision how we are providing, legal assistance through the, Assam application help center, pivoting, to working closer with our community based and legal service nonprofit providers to make sure that information is getting to the community in their neighborhoods, in their language, and with a cultural competency that, we'll need to to to have so that people clearly understand what is, occurring.
2:22:46
It is it is difficult to get ahead of ourselves because although we take what we've heard so far seriously, we do not want to add to the panic that already exists.
2:22:57
It's something that we we just have to find a way to to navigate very carefully.
2:23:04
But as I said earlier, we will, through our communications work and our partnerships, continue to message that our commitment is with our immigrant communities, and we do not want to do anything to erode the trust they need to have in their city government because it's just too important for us.
Lorena Lucero
2:23:25
And if I may add, council member, in addition to what to what, the commissioner laid out, we also expanded our current program that we have, which is called the immigrant rights workshops.
2:23:37
We, are currently contracting through through that network 12, organizations that are gonna be providing 240 Know Your Rights sessions from January until the until June 30th.
2:23:51
We are, triaging some of these trainings and focusing right now.
2:23:57
Phase 1 is in shelters.
2:23:59
We're also working with faith based institutions to roll that out there, schools in addition to libraries.
2:24:06
I'm happy she told us to report that our first, session I'm always like I forget what day I mean.
2:24:12
I think it was Tuesday.
2:24:15
In the last 2 in the last two sessions that we just sort of launched this this effort, we were at Hall Street and supported a 190 people.
2:24:25
So we're, you know, we're sort of ramping things up, but I just wanted to add that as well.
Shekar Krishan
2:24:29
Thank you for the information.
2:24:30
If you can all send this that information to the the committee too, about the plans and the workshops, we'd really appreciate that.
2:24:37
You know, I think I I, you know, I really feel that, Moiya, you all, understanding more is coming, should really be out there, in our neighborhoods, on the streets with organizations, making sure that everyone is aware of these resources.
2:24:51
And so I look forward to hearing more about what those plans are.