Keeping Families Together https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2020/keeping-families-together https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Keeping Families Together

Additional Information
Used for	Requested funds will be used to provide direct immigration legal services to low-income immigrant families and individuals seeking to be united and/or re-united with family in the United States. The services include filing of petitions as well as legal representation both in court and in USCIS proceedings, for individuals who have valid legal grounds for obtaining legal status. The goal of this program is to keep family units together and assist them on the path to self-sustainability.
Benefits	Ultimately, this project will positively impact the community, because keeping family units together is an effective pathway for immigrant families to achieve self-sustainability in the United States. Studies show that the fear of having a parent detained or deported cab negatively impact a child’s long term health and development. Deportation has numerous detrimental impacts on individuals who are deported, and on the families and communities they are forced to leave behind.
Proposal Description	In 2017, the immigrant population in Houston was 1.66 million, almost a quarter of the total population of the area. This incredibly diverse and dynamic metropolitan area has become a true measure and reflection of the impact that national immigration policies have on major cities. Almost half of the children in the Houston area are children of immigrants - children with at least one foreign-born parent. They make up 44 percent of all children under 18 as of 2016. It is estimated that at least 15 percent of minor children in Houston had at least one unauthorized immigrant parent, and 80 percent of the children of unauthorized immigrants were U.S. citizens themselves. Due to current stringent immigration policies, such as increased and frequent deportation of immigrants, there’s been a corresponding increase in the number of family separations since 2017. Often parents are deported, leaving behind their traumatized U.S. citizen child to face an uncertainty future. As a result, there is a climate of heightened fear and insecurity among immigrant communities. The "Keep Families Together" program provides low income immigrant families and individuals with high quality legal services with the goal of enabling family stability, economic independence, proper integration and long-term sustainability in the United States. Services provided include legal representation for permanent residency, work permits, travel visas, etc. Under this program, JFON Houston also organizes Know Your Right and Citizenship Workshops, and immigration clinics. These workshops and clinics are the primary means of informing and educating clients of their rights and assessing the viability of their cases. The goal is to keep family units together and to assist them on the path to self-sustainability. As families are able to support themselves, both physically and emotionally, their communities will flourish from resilient members who are able to contribute economically, socially and civically. In 2019, JFON Houston help 92 individuals to be united with their families. In the same year, the total number of cases served was 671, including, humanitarian petitions and citizenship and naturalization. The goal of this program is to keep family units together and assist them on the path to self-sustainability. When families are able to support themselves, economically and emotionally, the communities as a whole flourishes because members who are able to contribute economically, socially and civically.