Boyle Heights Unido: Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network

On November 20, 2017, 30+ community residents, partner organizations and staff members came together to enrich their knowledge around immigration in an intimate Inter-Organizational Training hosted by the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network. The goals of the day were to provide participants with a current political and legislative update, recap know your rights and family preparedness information in both English and Spanish, and plan out the next phases of the BHIRN as a collaborative.

Apolonio Morales, Political Director at CHIRLA, provided crucial information on the current Political and Legislative Landscape with a special emphasis on TPS and the passing of a Clean Dream Act. This led to fruitful conversations of how to get involved politically and the importance of community organizing. Following was Diego Cartagena, Vice President of Legal Programs at Bet Tzedek, who provided a brief overview of Family Preparedness Plans and best practices when supporting families in filling them out. Guillermina Gonzalez, Resident Leader from the Comite de Lideres, elaborated on the BHIRN Community Outreach efforts that took place in September and October and the significant impact that Know Your Rights trainings and information can make when preparing our community before something happens.

The information from our panelists provided a baseline understanding of immigration rights and the connection it has to our individual work and communities. We concluded with commitment from our participants to continue building on their knowledge and map out the next steps of the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network.

If you’d like to be part of the network or receive more information, please fill out the following form: http://bit.ly/BHIRN_Form