VAAP prepares for SB56/B375 hearing
Today, the following partners submitted a joint advocacy letter to lawmakers conveying the urgency of Vermont immigrants' unmet needs and the State House's low-barrier opportunity to help by passing the "ONA Bills" this session:
ACLU VT
Bridge to Rutland
Central Vermont Refugee Action Network
Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity
Chittenden Asylum Seekers Assistance Network
Community Asylum Seekers Project
Connecting Cultures
Haptic Pictures
Migrant Justice VT/Justicia Migrante VT
Northeast Kingdom Asylum Assistance Network
Pride Center of Vermont
Richmond Food Shelf & Thrift Store
RoundTable Resolution
Supporting and Helping Asylum Seekers and Refugees
The Janet S. Munt Family Room
Vermont Afghan Alliance
Vermont Asylum Assistance Project
Vermont Language Justice Project
Vermont Queer Legal Professionals
Vermont Treasurer’s Task Force on the Federal Transition
VLGS Latin American and Caribbean Law Students Association
Winooski Working Communities
Our voices are rising and lawmakers are hearing us. The Senate Committee on Government Operations has scheduled S.56 for a first reading and testimony on Tuesday, March 11 in the afternoon.
Come celebrate with us! EVERYONE is invited to make a sign and join us at the State House on Tuesday afternoon in celebration of our incredible immigrant communities. Let's show up and make our support for more state leadership on immigrant services known! Contact interns@vaavpt.org, or see you there!
Can't make it? Write the committee members and your representatives today.
A legislated ONA-equivalent mandate would empower the state to better coordinate services and advocate for systemic solutions to the challenges our communities already faced. If we want to ensure that state-level work continues for refugees AND grows to include support for ALL immigrant communities in VT, let's support S.56 and H.375!
Review our blog to get up to speed on how we got here (and some partners' early suggestions for more inclusive names for this office than "ONA," once the bill passes!). Our aim here is to get the state invested in facilitating sector-wide consultation as a first step toward greater equity across subpopulations.
Want to learn more? Visit https://www.vaapvt.org/advocacy-state
Want your organization to sign on? It's not too late! https://forms.office.com/r/cMwM4QhBsy
Want to learn about the hidden costs to Vermont of our current, uncoordinated landscape?
More anti-immigrant federal funding cuts are coming. Let's make sure the state has a mechanism for bringing us together to share in the work ahead! We've got this!
