The Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) and Pro Bono Net (PBN) won this year’s ClearMark Award from the Center for Plain Language, for best Spanish-language website. The winning site, https://immi.org/es, which was launched shortly after the November 2016 elections, helps immigrants understand their legal options and find legal help.
Immi is a free online resource, in English and Spanish. It uses accessible language to reach a wide audience. An estimated 15 to 20% of the 10 to 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. are eligible for legal status. Immi’s interactive quiz asks questions about family, immigration history, and circumstances to help them identify the options. The site provides additional plain language articles on immigration law, legal rights, how to get good legal help, and more. It has a directory of over 1,000 nonprofit legal service providers, searchable by location. Most recently, we launched a new “Make a Plan” interview on immi, to help immigrants prepare for the risk of arrest or deportation, and protect their families.
“We created immi to empower immigrants,” said IAN associate director Pat Malone. “Plain language is essential, if we want people to understand the law and their rights.” IAN’s in-house team worked with plain language experts at Transcend, subject matter experts at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and PBN’s tech team to deliver the language-accessible screening interviews and articles.
The ClearMark judges commented, “Immi’s straightforward, ethical, and easy to use tools and information on immigration options represents a great free educational service to millions of undocumented people in the United States.”
For more about the ClearMark Awards: https://centerforplainlanguage.org/awards/clearmark/2018-winners/
Congrats to all involved!