The Alumni Association of Hunter College is seeking nominations for the Hunter College Alumni Hall of Fame. Applications are due by November 1. Induction ceremony and reception and the awards luncheon will take place in April or May 2013. For more details read the cover letter here and the nomination for here.
Volunteers needed for Phone Banking on September 10
Phone banking to Get out the Vote for the Primary Election
Monday, September 10, 2012
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
La Fuente
25 West 18th Street, 5th Floor (between 5th and 6th Aves.)
Dinner will be provided.
If you are able to volunteer even 45 minutes between 6:30 and 8 pm, we need people to call registered voters to remind them to vote during the primary election. If you are willing to volunteer, please send a RSVP email to [email protected].
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On September 13, 2012, the primary for local state offices will be held. This is an important moment for registered members of political parties to cast their ballot for a nominee to represent their party. With the general election just months away, the primary will set the stage for what will be one of the most important election years.
Be part of the history-making process and remember to cast your vote on September 13!
Call for Applications – WLPPFP
The Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Law Center has updated and posted its application for the 2012-2013 Fellowship Year. For additional details, including a link to the application, please see the website at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/wlppfp/us/USapplication.cfm. The application deadline for the 2013-2014 Fellowship year is Friday, November 16, 2012.
The Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) offers Fellowships for public interest lawyers from the United States who are committed to advancing women’s rights throughout their careers. Throughout the Fellowship year, participants gain invaluable experience by working on women’s issues in Washington, DC with a public interest organization or governmental agency and by participating in educational and professional development opportunities provided by WLPPFP.
LOCATING THE SACRED FESTIVAL
September 12-23, 2012 | NYC
Two years in the making, the Locating the Sacred Festival, a project of the Asian American Arts Alliance, has brought together hundreds of artists, arts workers and cultural activists to create twenty-five events in churches, museums, cultural centers, botanical gardens and theaters across all five boroughs of New York City, exploring the meaning of the word “sacred” and its relevance in their communities. Read more here.
PRESS RELEASE: District Attorney Vance Announces Indictment of Garage Attendant for Defrauding Immigrant Co-Workers
Rosemary Yu, Co-Director of the New York County DA’s Immigrant Affairs Office (and AABANY member), shares the following press release about the ongoing efforts of her office to stop immigration fraud which has victimized our immigrant communities:
DISTRICT ATTORNEY VANCE ANNOUNCES INDICTMENT OF GARAGE ATTENDANT FOR DEFRAUDING IMMIGRANT CO-WORKERS
Case Referred by Caller to DA’s Immigrant Affairs Program Hotline: 212-335-3600
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., announced today the indictment of JOSE DELVALLE, 32, for stealing approximately $6,000 from immigrants by promising to obtain labor certifications and green cards for them, and falsely claiming that he had a contact who worked for immigration authorities capable of helping them. The defendant is charged in New York State Supreme Court with Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Third Degree, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, and Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree. The District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation into the defendant’s criminal activity when the victims contacted the Office’s Immigrant Affairs Program.
“More than half of the 2,400 calls to my Office’s Immigrant Affairs Program Hotline over the years relate to scams involving individuals claiming to offer legitimate immigration services, when, in fact, they do not,” said District Attorney Vance. “The circumstances of each crime vary – sometimes, the defendants represent themselves to be attorneys. Other times, the defendants target members of their own immigrant community. However, these crimes all share one thing: a willingness on the part of the defendants to take advantage of people who are new to this country, not fluent in the language, and struggling to navigate a complex legal and social services system. I encourage anyone who feels he or she may be the victim of an immigration scam to call my Office’s Immigrant Affairs Program Hotline at 212-335-3600, regardless of immigration status.”
According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, the defendant worked with the victims – two Ecuadorean immigrants – at a parking garage in Northern Manhattan. Between October and November 2010, DELVALLE is accused of befriending the two victims, telling them that he had a contact who worked in what he termed “immigration,” and promising to get them their labor certifications and green cards if they paid him $6,000 apiece: $3,000 up front, with the remainder to be paid after they received the documents. The defendant allegedly told his victims that it could take them anywhere from six months to one year for the cards to arrive. When they did not receive them, they contacted the defendant, who soon stopped taking their calls. It was at that point that the victims reported the scheme to the District Attorney’s Office.
DELVALLE is not an authorized provider of immigration services, and no immigration filings were ever submitted on behalf of the two victims.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Gross of the Special Prosecutions Bureau is handling the prosecution of this case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Rosemary Yu and Mayerling Rivera, Co-Directors of the Immigrant Affairs Program, and Thomas Wornom, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau.
District Attorney Vance thanked the Office of Fraud Detection & National Security, within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, New York District, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, within the United States Department of Justice, for their assistance in this investigation.
Defendant Information:
JOSE DELVALLE, D.O.B. 6/12/80
Bronx, NY
Charges:
- Criminal Possession of a Stolen Property in the Third, a class D felony, one count
- Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony, one count
- Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, two counts
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Pro Bono Training
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA)
Pro Bono Training
An estimated 100,000 undocumented Asian immigrants are eligible for “Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals” (DACA). A new Department of Homeland Security directive, DACA gives eligible undocumented youth a two-year pause from the threat of deportation and an opportunity to secure a work permit. For many, this will be the first opportunity to legally work and live in this country.
Many of these immigrants are from the communities served by the various Asian bar associations of New York. Taking on a DACA case pro bono is a discrete way to learn basic immigration law and impact the life of undocumented youth.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is seeking pro bono counsel to represent eligible young people applying for DACA. No prior legal experience is required, but pro bono counsel will be required to attend a training prior to taking a case. These cases will help support the work of AALDEF’s youth group for undocumented Asian Americans.
If you are interested in taking a DACA case through AALDEF, please join us for the training on:
Wednesday, September 5 from 6pm-7pm
at O’Melveny & Myers, 7 Times Square
To register for the training, please email AALDEF at: [email protected]
For more information about what this new directive means for Asian American communities, see our legal alert.
Generously Co-sponsored by:
Asian American Bar Association of New York
Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York
Muslim Bar Association of New York
Muslim Bar Association of New York
South Asian Bar Association of New York
Immigrant Bridge Program
A message from Elena Mayer regarding the Immigrant Bridge Program:
Good morning,
My name is Elena Mayer; I work on the LINK pilot initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. This suite of programs, being launched this fall, aims to better connect low-income residents and neighborhoods to emerging opportunities in the New York City economy.
I’m writing specifically to let you know about two RFPs we released this week for a new pilot program called the Immigrant Bridge Program. The goal of the Program is to help high-skill, unemployed or underemployed immigrants in NYC to obtain gateway jobs in their field of expertise. Our classic example is the engineer from Belarus who is today stocking shelves at a grocery store, who for a variety of reasons is unable to attach to the labor market in a job that utilizes his engineering training. Our program model combines two pieces: first, a case management, career plan development, and soft-skills training component that will arm participants with the appropriate next steps and necessary job search capabilities–the “Workforce Program.” Second, we will connect participants to microloan opportunities from a partnered “Loan Fund,” to help them cover the cost of any necessary classes, accreditation fees, or general costs incurred as they pursue their career plan (e.g., childcare, transit, etc.). Our analysis suggests that these low-income immigrants stand to increase their annual incomes by $15-30K through successful completion of the program.
We welcome proposals for both of these two RFP opportunities. The links to download the RFP documents can be found here:
Immigrant Bridge Workforce Program RFP
Immigrant Bridge Loan Fund RFP
Below are some relevant dates to note:
Workforce Program
· Optional information session: Thursday, September 6that 2:30pm, NYCEDC, 110 William Street, Conference Room 4A/B
· RFP Submission Deadline: Friday, September 28thby 4:00pm
Loan Fund
· Optional information session: Tuesday, September 11that 9:30am, NYCEDC, 110 William Street, Conference Room 4A/B
· RFP Submission Deadline: Friday, September 28thby 4:00pm
If you have any questions broadly about the Immigrant Bridge program concept, please feel free to reach out to me ([email protected];212-312-3561). If you have any questions specific to the RFPs, please direct your inquiries to[email protected]or[email protected](respectively).
I look forward to your proposals, and to being in touch with you about this opportunity.
Best,
Elena