News & Views

Weekly Wins Round-up: November 2020

Last week, in the midst of the global pandemic and increasingly harsh barriers to immigration, we gave thanks. Thanks for the continued health of family and friends; thanks for recovery; thanks for being able to stop for a moment to take a breath and come together – even if virtually – to share a meal and reflect on this past year.

As we near the end of the year, I am constantly amazed by the strength and resilience of immigrants in the United States, especially HIAS PA’s incredible clients. Our clients face seemingly insurmountable obstacles every day, and manage to overcome them with grace and strength.

None of this would be possible without HIAS PA’s staff and donors. Your patience, hard work, and support are what have kept HIAS Pennsylvania going for nearly 140 years. I am so thankful for you. I am, as always, elated to be able to share a glimpse into what we can all accomplish if we work together as a team.


1. Client perseveres through abuse, divorce, and a custody battle, and gets her green card.

Almost exactly two years after filing to divorce her abusive husband, my client just received her green card! Not only did she persevere through extreme abuse by her US citizen husband, a custody battle, and relocating to another state hours away with her small child to get away from her abuser, she also advocated for herself at work when her difficult employer kept asking when she was going to get her green card, and at the USCIS office, all during a pandemic. I’m so excited that she can now breathe a sigh of relief and start working on her citizenship application!

-Maya N., Accredited Representative

 


2. High school student excels in his first Advanced Placement classes, gets an A on a paper.

This week, one of our Syrian high school students got a 100% on a paper for his AP English class! He has challenged himself this year by taking two AP classes (his first ever) and, with the help of his mentors and our SAT instructor, got a perfect score on this paper. I am so proud of his hard work and grateful to our mentors and instructors for supporting him!

-Michelle Ferguson, Education Access Coordinator

 


3. Clients will be warm for the winter thanks to donor-driven coat drive.

Thank you so much to the Refugee Resettlement and Placement (R&P) team for meeting donors dropping off coats for our coat drive! Organizing a drive like this is a little extra complicated during this time. Also, a big kudos to my intern Catherine Kim for overseeing it all! We got our first drop off today of 70+ coats! Thank you to St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Ardmore; Or Hadash; Old York Road Temple-Beth Am; Or Zarua; and Lower Merion Synagogue for donating coats.

-Kerry Coughlin, Community Engagement Specialist


4. Clients win strong cases with the help of HIAS PA lawyers.

I had a couple of cool wins this week! First, a young man whose case I inherited from another lawyer got a request for evidence on his application for a green card as an abuse survivor. He had survived childhood abuse, and had gotten into some trouble with the juvenile justice system as a teenager. As a result, Immigration was questioning his application. He worked really hard to get the evidence that we needed and we put together a strong response. His green card application was approved this week!

 

I also found out that another client won her affirmative asylum case. This was the very first case I took as a new lawyer at HIAS PA just over a year ago. She had her asylum interview in Newark in March, the day before the office closed due to the pandemic! She came as an unaccompanied minor fleeing gang violence and then survived an additional workplace assault here in the US as a teenager. She is an incredible person and I am so excited for her.

-Joanna G., Staff Attorney


Thank you for your continued support of HIAS Pennsylvania. I hope that these Weekly Wins from HIAS PA staff have given you a lift, as they do me. Look out for more wins at the beginning of next month!

In health,

Cathryn Miller-Wilson

TONIGHT (4/20) - Join us ONLINE at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!

Join us ONLINE at 6:45PM TONIGHT, Thursday, April 20th, for HIAS PA's 2023 Golden Door Awards: United for Immigrants!

Happy Passover from HIAS Pennsylvania!HIAS PA is closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover

HIAS Pennsylvania will be closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover from 1PM on Wednesday, April 5th through Friday, April 7th, and on Wednesday, April 12th and Thursday, April 13th.

Join us at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!United for Immigrants

The Golden Door Awards is HIAS Pennsylvania's annual fundraiser. Your generous support helps us serve low-income immigrants from all over the world as they build new lives in our community.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

TONIGHT: Join us at the table!Join us for Thankful Together!

Thankful Together, formerly known as Refugee Thanksgiving, is happening TONIGHT at 6PM!

Register here to join us tonight: https://hiaspa1.wpengine.com/event/thankful-together-2021/

Celebrate our volunteers who make this all possible!Click here at 11:45AM to join our Annual Meeting!

Click here to join our virtual Annual Meeting!

The Annual Meeting starts at noon, but join us at 11:45AM for an informal chat before the event!

POSTPONED! Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan

Today's Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan Facebook Live event has been postponed due to a worldwide Facebook outage. We will update you as soon as possible about rescheduling the event.