The Immigration Project started off as a small team of lawyers. Now, the Normal-based nonprofit is moving into a larger physical space that matches the scope of its mission.
“We used to be small but mighty. Now we’re just exploded – we’re just mighty,” said Charlotte Alvarez, executive director of the Immigration Project.
The Immigration Project recently moved into its new headquarters space at 211 Landmark Drive, Suite 4, just across the parking lot from the old one where the organization spent the last seven years. A grand reopening and ribbon-cutting is set for June 16.
“Our whole office is now four times as large, and our staff (nearly 45 people) is eight times as large from where we were when we moved into our old space,” Alvarez said.
The Immigration Project helps immigrants in 86 counties in central and southern Illinois, including McLean County.
Its legal services division is the heart and soul, doing about 800 legal consultations a year. They help immigrants bring their families to the U.S., apply for asylum, or mount a deportation defense.
The expansion allows for a new Welcoming Center, which does things like offer pre-paid debit cards for immigrants who were affected by COVID but left out of federal assistance, or connect immigrants to existing social services that aren't accessible in other languages. Since 2020, the Immigration Project has helped distribute about $5 million to immigrant communities through rent, mortgage, utility assistance, Alvarez said.
The legal and social services teams can work hand-in-hand too, to look at each person’s situation holistically.
“With our legal services, we’ll work with survivors of domestic violence and trauma, who then can talk to our social services team to figure out how we can get them mental health support, or if they need help with a police statement, we can connect them to create a stronger overall whole,” Alvarez said.
The space also includes a new waiting room and reception area, open four days a week. There’s also a classroom space, for group presentations on topics like how to seek asylum or apply for citizenship.
Immigration policy is famously complicated, with changes as new political administrations come and go. The new space gives the Immigration Project the resources it needs to keep pace with those always changing, always complex processes.
“Immigration has always been a really difficult space. And particularly in the Trump administration, there was a lot of policy changes," Alvarez said. "And then in the Biden administration, there has been just as many changes but in different directions. Title 42 ending, changes to asylum. So one of our core challenges on our legal work side is really making sure that we understand, what is the law today? How does that affect our clients? And how can we clearly communicate those changes to our existing clients and potential new clients?
“It's just such a complex system that it's easy for people to get lost in that journey or not know the next step to take. So we're really trying to communicate those changes and information for folks, and be responsive for new trends like recent arrivals from Ukraine, from Venezuela, from Afghanistan. How can we really understand what's happening now and be a part of communicating those changes to our folks?”
