The New York Immigration Coalition has created and is sponsoring this project and has made a major commitment to making it work. I just wanted to put some information about it on the blog:
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is an umbrella policy and advocacy organization for approximately 200 groups in New York State that work with immigrants and refugees.
As the coordinating body for organizations that serve one of the largest and most diverse newcomer populations in the United States, the NYIC has become a leading advocate for immigrant communities on the local, state, and national levels. The NYIC�s membership includes grassroots community organizations, nonprofit health and human services organizations, religious and academic institutions, labor unions, and legal, social, and economic justice organizations. With its multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-sector base, the NYIC provides both a forum for immigrant groups to share their concerns and a vehicle for collective action to address these concerns.
The NYIC was founded in 1987 to mobilize the leadership of New York�s immigrant communities in response to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. It has since evolved into a powerful advocacy voice, analyzing the impact of immigration policy proposals, promoting and protecting the rights of immigrants and their family members, improving newcomers� access to services, resolving problems with public agencies, and mobilizing member groups to respond to emerging issues and needs.
� Policy Analysis and Advocacy. The NYIC focuses on laws, policies, and practices that affect immigrants and the communities in which they live. Our current priorities include fighting for comprehensive immigration reform measures; increasing the availability of key integration services such as English language and literacy programs, legal services, and citizenship classes; combating discrimination and ensuring civil rights and workplace protections; and improving immigrants� access to quality health care, education, and safe and affordable housing.
� Civic Participation and Voter Education. The NYIC helps increase the political power of immigrant and refugee communities through a large-scale voter registration project, more than 100 voter education events each year, and extensive voter mobilization efforts for key elections. More than 260,000 new citizens have been registered to vote thanks to the NYIC�s New Citizen Voter Registration Project.
� Community Education. The NYIC develops educational materials in as many as twelve languages on important issues such as new developments in immigration law, the citizenship process, school registration, health care access, and voting rights. We have published and distributed more than a million copies of dozens of brochures and fact sheets, and we work regularly with ethnic and mainstream media outlets to disseminate important information to immigrant families.
� Training and Leadership Development. Through its training institute, the NYIC offers hundreds of workshops and community education events each year on immigration and social services law and other issues of concern to immigrant communities. In addition, our Immigrant Advocacy Fellowship Program helps immigrant leaders create more powerful and politically relevant organizations.
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