From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!
Delaware is home to more than 100,000 immigrants, many of whom rely on crucial services to navigate the challenges of daily life. Various organizations have stepped up to provide essential resources — offering support with housing, college and career guidance, victim assistance and more. However, as the need for immigration services grows, many organizations face significant challenges in meeting the demand.
Groups like Jewish Family Services, Catholic Charities Diocese of Wilmington, the Latin American Community Center and La Esperanza all support Delawareans across the state. Still, they all face two major challenges: little to no state funding and a shortage of immigration specialists. Both problems have hampered their ability to meet the growing needs of the communities they serve.
Little to no state funding strains services
Catholic Charities has provided immigration support for the past decade. However, immigrant advocate and former specialist with the organization Joanne McAfee says that service has recently ended due to a lack of funding.
“My first year of working with Catholic Charities was funded by the Raskob Foundation. And when we went back to them to ask them for a second year of funding they said no,” she said.
McAfee assisted nearly 150 families throughout her two-year tenure at the organization, building crucial trust and relationships. With the end of funding for legal services, she describes the loss as feeling like everything has been “ripped away.”
“Several of them were like, ‘Oh no, where am I going to go now?’ or ‘I don’t want to work with anybody else.’ It was hard, like my last day, I just cried,” McAfee explained. “Being given the honor of walking through these processes with them, it just means a lot to me and just understanding that they’ve been in this place of finally feeling comfortable and [to say], ‘I have this person who’s advocating for me,’ and then having that kind of ripped away?”
“It is very sad and unfortunate,” she added. “It’s been tough.”
As of Sept. 6, Catholic Charities has terminated all legal services for immigrants. They are now sending letters to affected individuals, informing them of the closure and referring them to La Esperanza in Georgetown, Delaware. Families are responsible for contacting La Esperanza for any questions or follow-ups regarding their cases.
“Recently, we’ve had Catholic Charities reach out to us and asked us if they could send the clients that they had to us, because for my understanding is that they’re not gonna be providing these services,” said Bryant Garcia, co-executive director of La Esperanza.
His group has also received calls from Jewish Family Services to assist with some cases due to high demand. However, it’s not a direct handoff; the decision to continue their cases is up to the individuals without proper documentation, as relocating might impact their ability to build trust or access transportation to the new location.
“People will go where they feel like they can get the most adequate services,” he said. “The reality is there are some organizations and bigger cities that have better resources, have language lines, [and] have abilities to communicate with a wider population.”
La Esperanza, a well-established organization serving the immigrant community across Delaware and the Delmarva region, benefits from three immigration specialists and is working to add a fourth. However, despite their efforts, the lack of state funding remains evident.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66e95136345b4c93bfcf0c2e95d7deeb&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwhyy.org%2Farticles%2Fdelaware-immigrant-support-funding-shortage-staff%2F&c=12297140257487465520&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-16 22:41:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.