On June 9th Pro Bono Net Executive Director Mark O’Brien and Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) Director Matthew Burnett participated in the inaugural conference of the New York Immigrant Assistance Consortium. Close to three hundred immigration advocates, legal service providers, government officials, and community members joined together to discuss how to better coordinate legal support for New York’s immigrant communities.
Pro Bono Net and IAN have been leading the conversation on the role of technology in helping to meet the inevitable increase in demand for services in the event of large scale changes to immigration law. O’Brien and Burnett moderated panels at the conference, sharing their knowledge and expertise with the wider New York immigration advocacy community. Both also sit on the Steering Committee of the New York Immigrant Assistance Consortium.
O’Brien moderated a panel on “Innovations in Outreach and Service Delivery through Technology.” Burnett joined the panel along with Adam Stofsky of New Media Advocacy Project, Jennifer Ching of Queens Legal Services and Lauren Burke of Atlas DIY. The panel focused on the existing work that is being done in the legal field – including IAN’s work developing cutting edge tools and approaches to increase access to justice for low-income immigrants, the role of technology in response to Superstorm Sandy, social media strategies for DACA and beyond, and the use of video and new media for community education and empowerment. The panel also discussed available opportunities for non-profits to engage with technology and the ways that technology can transform service delivery.
Burnett moderated a panel on “National Perspectives on Legalization Planning and Implementation.” Joining the panel were Charles Kamasaki of the National Council of La Raza, Larry Kleinman of CAPACES Leadership Institute, and Michelle Sardone of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC). The group focused on preparing for large-scale immigration reform, and discussed lessons of past immigration reform efforts, the importance of planning for local issues, and current efforts to build capacity in the nonprofit immigration field.
“It was clear from the conference and the feedback from attendees that there’s much more to be done to plan and prepare for administrative or legislative changes to the immigration law,” said Burnett. “This conference was just the start of what I hope will become a larger conversation about how to more effectively meet the needs of New York’s diverse immigrant communities.”