CVIIC Regional Conference on Immigrant Integration Held in Fresno

Representatives of partner organizations from throughout the Central Valley came together on September 26 to participate in the second annual CVIIC regional conference on immigrant integration.

The conference focused on the development of a regional strategy to develop and move forward a regional strategy. Conference participants engaged in strategic discussions along thematic groups focusing on: educational access; DACA, naturalization and other legal services; health and community wellbeing; civic participation and advocacy. The groups began the development of action plans.

In addition, the conference features three keynote speakers, the presentations of special recognitions to six institutions that have made significant contributions to the creation and developement of our regional network, and also a panel of local and state leaders analyzing the significance of immigrant integration in the Central Valley.

The keynote speakers were:

Dr. Joaquin Arambula, California State Assembly, 31st District.

Felicia Escobar, Special Assistant to President Barack Obama on Immigration Policy.

Mariela Melero, Associate Director of Customer Service and Public Engagement for USCIS.

The panel of local state leaders discussing an immigrant integration strategy in the Central Valley included:

Esmeralda Soria, City of Fresno City Council, District 1.

Sally Kinoshita, Deputy Director of Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)

Amparo Cid, Program Manager, Sierra Health Foundation

Gina Da Silva, Policy Advocate, California Immigrant Policy Center

Leoncio Vasquez, Executive Director of the Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño

The panel was moderated by Hugo Morales, Executive Director of Radio Bilingue

An important component of the conference was the issuing of special recognitions to six institutions that have contributed in various ways to the creation of CVIIC and the development which has taken place since its creation in February 2014.

Special recognition to two media partners were presented to Radio Bilingue and Univision Fresno for their consistent and ongoing support to transmit to their respective audiences information about the CVIIC events and issues.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and the Consulado de Mexico in Fresno were acknowledge for the roles they have played in the regional collaborative: IRLC for providing numerous training and funding opportunities to CVIIC and partner organizations while the Consulate has contributed by offering opportunities to organize workshops that can serve immigrant families.

CVIIC also presented recognitions to the two foundations that provided the seed money to start the process that eventually led to the creation of CVIIC and, afterwards, to supports its ongoing opertations. The recipients were the Rosenberg Foundation and Jo Ann Intil and Ed Kissam, trustees of the Werner-Kohnstamm Family Giving Fund.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Fresno Adult School, the California Latino Legislative Caucus, the Institute for Local Government and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

The generous financial support from the following foundations made possible the organization of this important event: The California Endowment, the Rosenberg Foundation, the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, California Immigrant Policy Center, Ready California, New Americans Campaign, an Anonymous Donor, the Werner-Kohnstamm Family Giving Fund and the Fresno Adult School.