Organizations that Support Our Immigrant Communities

If you're like me, you're looking for ways to support the amazing families that comprise our immigrant communities locally, or at least ways to support organizations that are working directly with them. Here are a few local organizations to consider.

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Friends of Fieldworkers, Inc. are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization focused on helping the families of Ventura County's farm workers.  They receive contributions of cash and in-kind gifts (cars, clothing, bedding, books, household items, furniture, etc.), sponsor activities for children, and provide assistance with such matters as healthcare, childcare, education and housing. 

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Buen Vecino was created as a response to the fear, stress, and threats being experienced in our community by immigrants, their families, and all who are subjected to racial profiling. Too many people have been persecuted and had their rights violated. Too many families have been torn apart by the devastating consequences when parents are taken away from their children. The fear of these traumatic events permeates daily life for thousands of our neighbors.

Buen Vecino aims to reduce the fear and anxiety people are experiencing as a result. They teach fundamental rights afforded to all people in this country. When people know their basic rights, they are better prepared to respond to questions from authorities, invoke the power of their constitutional protections, avoid trouble, and breathe easier. They educate people in trusted environments. Communication is done in people’s preferred language. 

They also teach allies to become better informed and prepared to support their mission by addressing the root causes of immigration, for which we all share a responsibility.

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The Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) unites indigenous leaders and allies to strengthen the Mixtec and indigenous immigrant community in Ventura County, estimated at 20,000 people. Most are strawberry farmworkers, and many speak primarily their indigenous language. MICOP’s majority-indigenous staff builds community leadership and self-sufficiency through education and training programs, language interpretation, health outreach, humanitarian support, and cultural promotion. We organize the community to advocate for shared concerns. MICOP reaches approximately 6,000 individuals each year. MICOP is also the founder and home of Radio Indigena, out of Oxnard, Ca, a radio station with programming in indigenous languages such as Mixteco.

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The social justice fund invests in community organizing – the process of bringing people together and helping them develop their voices, realize their power and collectively act to create real change in their lives and communities. This is an investment in the human spirit – the rousing, can-do attitude for which Americans are famous.

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Nationally ... 

RAICES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.
Founded in 1986 as the Refugee Aid Project by community activists in South Texas, RAICES has grown to be the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas. With offices in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, RAICES is a frontline organization in the roiling debate about immigration and immigrants in the world. As an organization that combines expertise developed from the daily practice of immigration law with a deep commitment to advocacy, RAICES is unique among immigration organizations. A diverse staff of 130 attorneys, legal assistants, and support staff provide consultations, direct legal services, representation, assistance and advocacy to communities in Texas and to clients after they leave the state. In 2017, RAICES staff closed 51,000 cases at no cost to the client. Our advocacy and commitment to change are driven by the clients and families we serve every day as our attorneys and legal assistants provide legal advocacy and representation in an immigration system that breaks apart families and leaves millions without pathways to legal status.

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I also encourage you to reach out to your local Democrats clubs or Indivisible chapters who are likely working with organizations to arrange events and action.

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*Friday, July 12, at 7:30* #lightsforliberty


Wondering what you can do? Make yourself VISIBLE to our immigrant community at the #lightsforliberty event being planned.

**Specific Camarillo Location TBD — Stay tuned for details, more information coming soon. Use the comment section here to learn more & discuss/share ways to take action!**

If you're in Ventura County or a nearby area, join us on #FridayJuly12, at 7:30pm for an event held in solidarity with the nationwide Lights for Liberty Vigil to #EndDetentionCamps.
#PleaseShare this event and #InviteYourFriends and family in Ventura County and nearby areas. Let's join together to demonstrate that we refuse to stand idly by while fellow humans are robbed of dignity and basic human rights.

#WantToTravel to a Detention Center to protest?
If you are willing and able to travel down south to a detention center, we wholeheartedly encourage you to do so. We have connections to organizers who are setting up carpools & buses to San Diego and Adelanto Detention Centers. PM this page and we will connect you with those organizers.
#WantToDonate to help get needed supplies to detainees?

This is a trusted organization and donations to this fund will be used to provide detainees with desperately needed items and resources. 
https://www.cluejustice.org/julio_barahona_exodus_fund
#LightsForLiberty
#DontLookAway
#EndConcentrationCamps
#KeepFamiliesTogether

If you are comfortable doing so, we would love to see your city on your signs (ie: #CamarilloCares), so that as we gather we can visually demonstrate that people from all over our county and beyond will not sit by and allow these atrocities to happen.

For more information about the national Lights for Liberty Vigils, and locations of Detention Centers visit:
LightsForLiberty.org