Explanation
This ordinance authorizes Columbus City Council 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 $285,000.00 total over three years to organizations that meet specified legal services needs within the immigrant and refugee communities, with $185,000.00 allocated by the City of Columbus and an additional $100,000.00 in private philanthropic dollars pledged by the Vera Institute of Justice and directly allocated by them.
Columbus City Council solicited proposals from nonprofit legal service providers in the Central Ohio area to receive a grant of $157,500.00 from CFTF to 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.
Three grant applications were received for the LOP & Direct Legal Representation Grant. A review committee of four immigration experts and one member of city staff reviewed the grant applications and recommended that Columbus City Council award the LOP & Direct Legal Representation Grant of $157,500.00 to Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
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 Columbus City Council to ente...
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