Photo courtesy of the Community Center for Immigrants
Community Center for Immigrants
Are you upset and feeling helpless about our country’s direction and the leaders in Washington? Remember all change begins at the local level! You can make a difference working for change and social justice here in your hometown, especially by supporting immigrants and refugees.
Did you know that Milwaukee is currently home to the largest Rohingya refugee population in the United States? The Rohingya are a stateless ethnic group who are predominantly from Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. In 2017, over 740,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar due to political persecution, ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by Burma’s military regime.
The Rohingyas, Milwaukee’s newest group of refugees, joins other immigrants from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan. Caitlyn Lewis, founder and executive director of Community Center for Immigrants, has worked closely with these communities since founding CCI in 2021.
CCI is a Department of Justice recognized provider of immigration legal services and educational programming for low-income immigrants and their families.
Education and Legal Services
In 2024, CCI provided education and legal services to over 900 immigrants, seeking refuge in Milwaukee from war, political persecution, and ethnic cleansing.
Lewis explains that her organization is a marriage between her personal and professional lives. During her studies to become an educator, she dated a Tibetan refugee living in India. The struggles experienced by Dhondup, her future husband, sensitized her to the difficulties that refugees encounter when immigrating to the United States.
Refugees are often treated with hostility by immigration authorities and lack the knowledge or resources to claim their rights to U.S. citizenship. They also experience disproportionate levels of poverty, illiteracy, and discrimination.
Skills and Citizenship
Photo courtesy of the Community Center for Immigrants
Community Center for Immigrants 2
CCI’s goal is to help refugees and immigrants achieve U.S. citizenship and gain the skills needed for self-sufficiency, economic independence, and deeper community integration.
The organization’s “small but mighty” staff of four collaborates with teachers and volunteers to provide free English classes, citizenship preparation courses, workforce development, and affordable immigration legal services. CCI’s passion for serving the immigrant community is reflected in the growing demand for their services.
However, the new Trump administration threatens the future of CCI. Since January, the federal government has frozen over ¼ of CCI’s funding. Yet, Ms. Lewis emphasizes that despite political headwinds, the organization has developed a strategy to support immigrant rights.
|
|
Through collaboration with resettlement agencies and other immigration legal providers, CCI is adapting services to the needs of an immigrant community under attack.
The need to support immigrants in Milwaukee is greater than ever! For every 1 affordable immigration legal service provider there are 14,000 low-income immigrants. Therefore, CCI is calling on all good Milwaukeeans to step up and support immigrants.
How You Can Help Further the Good Work of CCI and Help Your Immigrant Neighbors?
- Get Informed and Get involved. Milwaukee’s immigrant communities are diverse, each bringing unique cultures, languages, customs and challenges. Sign up for CCI’s newsletter at. Communitycenterforimmigrants.com
- Volunteer! Teach, assist in class, help conduct citizenship interviews, market CCI to the larger community. Whatever your talents, there is a place for you at CCI. Contact Jeremy Booth to volunteer, learn more, get training on the “Volunteer with CCI” Contact form on the website: communitycenterforimmigrants.com
- Donate. Under the new administration 28% of CCI’s budget is frozen. Donations large and small are accepted at communitycenterforimmigrants.com.
