In a Jun. 2018 meeting, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pueblo, or CCDP, the Latino Chamber of Commerce and several city officials grappled with the troubling fact that the local immigrant community was uncomfortable reporting a crime to the police. To address the issue, CCDP invited Pueblo’s district attorney, a police department sergeant, the county sheriff’s chief and other local leaders to better understand the legal immigration process and some of the unique issues and challenges immigrants face in this Colorado town.

In the weeks following the meeting, CCDP and law enforcement increased collaborations to reduce the newcomers’ fear of interacting with the police. A community liaison officer from the Pueblo Police Department and the district attorney began attending “Know Your Rights” presentations provided regularly by CCDP. The officials answered questions from the audience in a safe environment, giving community members a chance to have a positive interaction with local law enforcement. Police officers now visit CCDP to take statements and file reports for community members who were previously reluctant to report a crime at the police station. Now, CCDP and Pueblo police work together more effectively, reducing wait times to obtain U visa certifications. Because city officials have a better understanding of the services offered by CCDP, they have begun referring more constituents to the organization.

The affiliate’s partnership with the city has resulted in closer cooperation and communication between them and the community. However, the path took many steps. Fikile Ryder, CCDP’s immigration program coordinator, works on integration programing and was the agency’s point of contact with the city.  She described how integration began with educating CCDP staff on what integration is and encouraging them to think deliberately about it in their programming decisions and overall goals and objectives. To have a truly impactful integration initiative, CCDP used CLINIC’s “Immigrant Integration Measurement Survey: Client Perspective” to collect responses from clients. Through the survey, they identified anxiety around police interactions as an issue negatively affecting the community.  

Ryder knew the agency needed a concrete understanding of city structure and priorities as she prepared to approach them. After receiving agency and director approvals to build a relationship with the local government, CCDP partnered with the Latino Chamber of Commerce to co-host the event. They sent out invitations to agencies that could help encourage communication and build trust between community members and law enforcement. The meeting was advertised as an opportunity for city officials to learn more about serving underserved populations and kick-start collaborative work. For Ryder, the meeting underscored what the agency’s previous integration work had revealed: many of the citizens of Pueblo knew little about the legal immigration system or the challenges immigrants face.

While CCDP and the Latino Chamber of Commerce laid the groundwork for subsequent collaboration with the city, Ryder acknowledged that “what made the collaboration possible was a desire from the city to serve all immigrants in the community, regardless of status.” The successful outcomes have made the agency eager to collaborate in future initiatives. “We want to encourage city departments across Pueblo to hire more bilingual officials and employees, expand language services across the city and have more translated materials available. Ultimately, we want to continue collaboration that works towards making the city and the community more inclusive for all immigrants.”

CLINIC’s network grew in one big step in February with the addition of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service agencies: 26 organizations with an additional 11 sub-offices. The CLINIC network stands at about 360 organizations with affiliates now in the District of Columbia and 49 states (lacking only Wyoming).

LIRS and CLINIC have long had partnerships on different fronts. In the 1990s they cofounded the Detention Watch Network. At about the same time, LIRS contracted to use CLINIC’s attorney-of-the-day hotline for its affiliates that offered immigration legal services. The legal staff of LIRS agencies have long taken CLINIC immigration trainings.

And the two organizations have frequently worked together on shared advocacy priorities.

“Having LIRS affiliates join CLINIC not only increases the total number of our affiliates but adds another network within our own,” said Jeff Chenoweth, CLINIC’s Capacity Building director. “The agreement further strengthens our mutual, Gospel-driven missions. This is particularly important as nonprofits, faith-based and otherwise, serve the foreign-born under many challenges on the national and local level.”

“LIRS is excited about the launch of CLINIC partnership,” said Kay Bellor, LIRS Vice President for Programs. “By supporting our partners’ membership, we look forward to a stronger LIRS network of legal service providers, having cost effective access to superior legal training and technical support. CLINIC is already a great partner, but we couldn’t be a happier about establishing even stronger ties between us.”

The 37 new members of the network stretch from Massachusetts to Vancouver, Washington, and into the south from Phoenix to Florida. The organizations include those that specialize in immigration legal assistance as well as refugee resettlement agencies. The 26 organizations include:

• Ascentria Care Alliance, Worcester, Massachusetts
• Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, Utica, New York
• Refugee Services of Texas, Fort Worth (has a sub-office in Houston)
• Canopy of Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville
• Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Omaha (has two sub-offices in Lexington and Grand Island)
• Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, Falls Church, Virginia (two sub offices in Washington, D.C. and Hyattsville, Maryland)
• Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville
• Lutheran Services of Florida, Tampa
• Inspiritus, Atlanta
• Lutheran Services Carolinas, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Lutheran Services Carolinas, Columbia, South Carolina
• Bethany Christian Services, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Bethany Christian Services, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• Bethany Christian Services, Roslyn, Pennsylvania
• Lutheran Community Services of the Northwest, Portland, Oregon
• Lutheran Community Services of the Northwest, Vancouver, Washington
• Lutheran Community Services of the Northwest, Tacoma, Washington
• Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, Denver
• Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, Phoenix
• Samaritas, Grand Rapids, Michigan (has a sub-office in Battle Creek)
• Samaritas, Troy, Michigan
• RefugeeOne, Chicago
• Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (has a sub-office in Madison)
• Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Sioux Falls
• Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Minneapolis (has a sub-office in St. Cloud)
• Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, Fargo