The Public Law Center (PLC), is leading a major collaboration with national and local funders to form the Orange County Naturalization Initiative Collaborative (OCNIC). Major funding from The California Endowment, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Evelyn & Walter Hass Jr. Fund along with additional funding from the Orange County Community Foundation, St. Joseph Health System and the Sisters of St. Joseph Health Care Foundation, will provide assistance to individuals who seek to become U.S. Citizens.
The Public Law Center will work with Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD), a community-based non-profit organization that advances the rights of Orange County's working families through community organizing, strategic research, and advocacy. The Collaborative will include a network of community based organizations that has the trust of the local immigrant groups, creating a formalized structure that unites citizenship providers, shares resources and knowledge, and increases the number of naturalized clients.
"We are proud that these funders have placed their trust in the Public Law Center," said Ken Babcock, PLC's Executive Director and General Counsel. "This collaboration will help immigrants fully integrate into our society and realize the American dream."
PLC and OCNIC partners will aim to complete over 1,800 citizenship applications through fairs and legal clinics. The Public Law Center's experience and history in harnessing the skills of volunteer attorneys throughout the county will be key to the project's success.
The Collaborative will be managed by Supervising Attorney Julie Greenwald Marzourk, head of PLC's Immigration Unit, and Staff Attorney Maricela Montoya.
The Collaborative's first effort was a recent Citizenship Fair held on July 14 at St. Anthony's Church in Anaheim. It was staffed by volunteer attorneys, law students and PLC staff and a wide range of volunteers from OCCORD. Seventy-one naturalization applications were completed.
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Julie Greenwald Marzourk
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"The Public Law Center provided attorney oversight on each and every application. Participants first met with an attorney to assess his/her individual eligibility, and again to review the completed application. PLC will continue to work with community partners to efficiently serve a large volume of legal residents while preserving high quality legal advice," said Greenwald Marzouk.
This newly funded project dovetails with another recently funded major project for the Public Law Center. This year PLC was chosen to receive a grant from The California Endowment, as part of the Building Healthy Communities Initiative. Under this grant, PLC is providing a range of legal services in the areas of family law, consumer law, housing, and immigration to residents of central Santa Ana.
The next Citizenship Fairs will be held: Saturday, September 15, 2012
9:00 am - 12:00 pm or 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Santa Ana Clinic
Saturday, September 29, 2012
9:00 am - 12:00 pm or 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Anaheim Clinic
Training Date for Attorneys Who want to Volunteer and Law Students Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Registration at 5:30 pm and Program from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
at UC Irvine School of Law
For more information, contact Maricela Montoya at mmontoya@publiclawcenter.org