BOSTON - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) today announced the Greater Boston Immigrant Defense Fund has reached $1 million in donations, and the $1 million in funds will support ten organizations in the Greater Boston area. This week, the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) distributed over $1 million in private funds to both legal services providers and community outreach organizations, which were awarded after the competitive application process. More than 35 individual organizations responded to the Request for Proposals, and projects were selected based on their potential to enhance legal services capacity, strengthen community education and outreach, and build network infrastructure, in addition to advancing the goals of Defense Fund.
"The overwhelming support the Greater Boston Immigrant Defense Fund has received shows how committed Boston is to ensuring we are an inclusive, supportive city for all -- qualities that are now more important than ever," said Mayor Walsh. "Through these funds, organizations will be able to better protect and serve immigrants throughout the Boston area, helping the families, friends and neighbors who contribute so much to our city. I'm grateful to all the partners and organizations who made this Fund, and these grants, possible."
"MLAC appreciates the opportunity to partner with the City, the foundations and law firms that have come together to support access to justice for immigrants in Greater Boston," said Lonnie Powers, executive director of MLAC. "The Immigrant Defense Fund gives concrete recognition to the overwhelming need for civil legal assistance in communities affected by policy changes at the federal level."
The Greater Boston Immigrant Defense Fund, launched on September 13th, is a public-private partnership and funding collaborative that seeks to strengthen the Greater Boston area's capacity to protect and defend its many immigrant communities, refugees, and temporary status holders by increasing education and access to legal services.
Given the high volume of competitive applications and the growing need for community education and legal services in immigrant communities across the region, the partners will continue to fundraise, with the goal of expanding the fund to more organizations.
The design of the initiative is the product of a collaborative effort between the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) with input from local funders and immigration advocates. During the course of the two-year pilot period, MLRI, a statewide poverty law and policy center, and legal services Immigration Coalition convenor, will serve as the network coordinator. The Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement will track and evaluate the impact of the initiative.
"Immigrants are vital members of our society. Unfortunately, changes in federal policy have forced many to fear going about their daily life activities. This grant will enable GBLS to work with community-based organizations and provide needed legal support to change this dynamic," said Jacquelynne Bowman, Executive Director of Greater Boston Legal Services, one of the organizations receiving a grant. "We are thankful to Mayor Walsh for spearheading this initiative to ensure that Boston remains a welcoming community."
"In these times of great insecurity and crisis for the immigrant community, it means so much to organizations that not only work directly with these vulnerable communities, but are staffed by immigrants themselves, to know that our city and the civic organizations of the city support and stand with us," said Patricia Montes, Executive Director of Centro Presente, one of the organizations receiving a grant. "Making sure that our communities know about their rights as immigrants, as workers and as human beings who contribute to this society is critical at moments such as these."
The fund is made possible by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), a national network of foundations working on issues related to immigrant integration, as well as by contributions from local philanthropic, corporate and legal partners. Local foundations and corporate partners contributing to the fund include the Barr Foundation, the Klarman Family Foundation, the Boston Foundation, the Fish Family Foundation, the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation, Foley Hoag, Mintz Levin, and the Hyams Foundation, the lead funder for the initiative.
The selected organizations are:
Legal Service Providers:
To enhance legal services capacity
Greater Boston Legal Services
PAIR Project (Political Asylum / Immigration Representation Project)
MetroWest Legal Services
Northeast Legal Aid
Southeast Coastal Counties Legal Services
Community Organizations:
To strengthen community education, outreach, organizing & referral
Brazilian Workers Center
Catholic Social Services of Fall River
Centro Presente
Chelsea Collaborative
Essex County Community Organization
Through their contributions to the cultural, social and economic landscape of the city, immigrants play an essential role in Boston's unique civic life. Foreign-born Bostonians account for 28.4 percent of City's population, and nearly half of Boston's children under that age of 18 lived with at least one foreign-born parent in 2015. Immigrants generate nearly a quarter of the economic output of Suffolk County. In 2014, immigrants contributed $2.3 billion to the regional economy, generating more than $116.1 million in state and local tax revenues and approximately 15,000 jobs. Additionally, a high proportion of foreign-born Bostonians are self-employed, which has helped revitalize and reinvigorate many of Boston's neighborhoods
陽光明媚，清風徐送，羅德島大學孔子學院迎來了第六屆羅德島地區中文演講比賽。此次演講比賽由羅德島大學孔子學院主辦，布朗大學協辦，共有16位來自羅德島大學，7位來自布朗大學的同學參加了比賽。比賽分為三個年級組，各有8位（一年級組）、7位（二年級組）和8位（三年級組）同學進行了激烈的角逐。擔任本次演講比賽的評委是新英格蘭地區中文教師學會會長，布朗大學東亞系高級講師胡龍華；羅德島大學孔子學院教師，華南師範大學副教授週芍， 布朗大學東亞系訪問講師朱慧傑，和羅德島大學語言系助理教授吳瑜。
一年級組的同學們雖然只學習了短短2個月的中文，但是已經能在一分鐘內準確地介紹自己、家人，以及介紹自己的愛好與經歷。在才藝表演中，同學們紛紛吟誦起了中國的唐詩，有的同學用大提琴展示了中國民樂《茉莉花》，有的同學用鋼琴演奏了中國流行音樂《童話》，還有同學用吉他唱起了《對不起，我的中文不好》，贏得了場下觀眾的陣陣掌聲與歡呼。
二年級的同學更是不甘示弱，從自身出發，談到了自己的生活、學習與家人，也談到瞭如今網絡與環境方面社會現狀問題。只學了一年漢語的同學們已經能夠清晰地用漢語表達出自己的看法，闡述自己的觀點。在才藝表演中，表演更是精彩紛呈，有的同學唱起了rap，有的同學舞起了《孔雀舞》。而來自羅德島大學的樊諾曦同學的一首繞口令歌曲《中國話》，更是贏得了老師們和同學們的肯定與讚嘆。
而三年級的同學不僅彈起了古箏，吹起了長笛，在演講內容中更是充分展現了他們的漢語實力。短短三分鐘的演講，已經從法治社會談到了綠色能源，從漢語四聲談到了民族旅遊。各位同學感情豐富，見地深刻。其中來自布朗大學的司愛悅同學以其標準的發音，流利的語速，生動的演講獲得了在場評委的一致認可，當之無愧拿到了本次演講比賽高年級組的第一名。
