New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) has launched what it describes as the largest, most comprehensive, and coordinated municipal legal services and community support network for Caribbean and other immigrants in the United States.
MOIA said this initiative will deliver “free, high-quality immigration legal assistance, support services, and immigrant rights education directly in the neighborhoods” where Caribbean and other immigrant New Yorkers live and work.
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“This effort is the realization of a long-held vision: a more integrated, community-rooted approach that connects NYC government to immigrant neighborhoods across the five boroughs,” Manuel Castro, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“This effort builds upon three and a half years of hard work by our team, navigating unprecedented challenges and multiple crises that have deeply impacted our immigrant communities,” he added.
“During this time, MOIA has invested more funding and issued more contracts to nonprofit partners than at any other point in its history, laying the foundation for this moment. With this, we are building infrastructure not just for today, but for years to come,” Castro said.
The network features 38 MOIA Immigration Legal Support Centers that will serve as community-based hubs and provide immigration legal screenings, full representation, pro-se assistance, immigrant rights education, and referrals to city services.
MOIA said these centers are strategically distributed across all five boroughs of New York City, with additional high-capacity hubs operated by citywide providers.
Together, MOIA said these legal hubs represent a total investment of US$18.8 million in three-year contracts and US$11.6 million in one-year contracts.
It said complementing these hubs are specialized and targeted investments, including a network of three MOIA centers for rapid response support (US$500,000); seven MOIA centers for Haitian community support (US$1.65 million); 17 MOIA centers for immigrant rights education located in trusted neighborhood-based organizations (US$443,600); a partnership with New York City’s three library systems to offer rights-based English language classes; and information at over 60 library branches across the five boroughs (US$600,000).
To further strengthen this network, MOIA said it is also investing in “quality, consistency, and service coordination” through the MOIA Legal Technical Mentorship Program, a program to strengthen the consistency and sustainability of immigration legal services citywide (US$1.2 million over three years) and the MOIA Immigration Legal Support Hotline, providing legal navigation and referrals across the five boroughs (US$632,500).
“This layered, citywide model is designed for both scale and depth.. It blends high-capacity legal hubs with culturally specific services and broad community access points, ensuring that immigrant New Yorkers, regardless of borough, language, or immigration status, have meaningful, trusted pathways to legal help and city resources.,” MOIA said.
MOIA said the network can expand and adapt to evolving needs and crises.
“Above all, it is transformative by design, replacing fragmented access with an integrated, community-rooted approach and establishing long-term, durable infrastructure designed not only to serve today’s needs, but also to grow and adapt in the years ahead,” MOIA said. (CMC)
