NoHo Home Alliance (NHHA), the non-profit St. Matthew’s, North Hollywood started in 2018, is launching another challenging and important long-term project: providing immigration legal services for low-income immigrants in the San Fernando Valley. Their immigrant services will focus on providing no-cost legal assistance and representation for immigrants pursuing changes in status, especially DACA recipients and immigrants in mixed-status households.
NHHA’s Immigration Advocacy Table, led by Selly Tonini, is coordinating the effort to become a “recognized organization” with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Office of Legal Access.
The first step in the lengthy process is to build up a team of volunteers and staff trained in immigration legal services in order to become “accredited representatives” providing focused legal advice and representation.
At this time, NHHA is looking for community and faith-community members committed to being part of the first training cohort to become “accredited representatives.” NHHA is planning to participate in an on-line training offered by Catholic Legal Immigration Network running from April 1 – May 16, 2019, costing $495. NHHA can currently can only offer a very limited number of scholarships for this on-line training to become an Accredited Representative, so it is their hope that most individuals will cover their own training cost.
If you are interested in becoming an “accredited representative” with NHHA’s Immigration Legal Services Program, please sign up using this on-line form, and be sure to indicate if you are available for the April 1 – May 16 training.
A meeting with potential volunteer/staff “accredited representative” trainees will be scheduled soon. For more information, contact Selly Tonini at selly@nohohome.org, or Rev. Stephanie Jaeger, Executive Director, at stephanie@nohohome.org.