Explanation
This ordinance authorizes the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. for the purpose of providing legal services for immigrant and refugee families in Central Ohio.
Columbus City Council established the Columbus Families Together Fund (CFTF) in 2017 to protect immigrant and refugee families in Central Ohio from the long-term financial and emotional devastation that results from aggressive deportation. The CFTF will provide $300,000.00 total over three years to Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. to meet specified legal services needs within the immigrant and refugee communities, with $300,000.00 allocated by the City of Columbus.
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. will provide a Legal Orientation Program (LOP) to educate detained persons on their rights under immigration law, and also to provide direct legal representation to detained immigrants in removal proceedings in the Cleveland Immigration Court in Cleveland, Ohio, for those persons who meet the program’s eligibility criteria. Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. will also provide micro grants to smaller organizations who have not yet been identified to assist in this work.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available within the Public Safety Initiatives subfund.
Emergency action is requested in order to immediately provide resources to Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. to avoid any delay in the provision of necessary legal services for the immigrant and refugee communities.
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. for the purpose of providing legal services for immigrant and refugee families in relation to Columbus Families Together Fund; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure within the Public Safety Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($300,000.00)
Body
WHEREAS, Columbus prides itself on being a diverse city where more than 10 percent...
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