Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer announced the release of the first Manhattan Borough President’s Office Immigrant Rights and Services Manual, a unique and comprehensive resource authored by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office in consultation with major immigrant rights organizations around the city. The Borough President’s Office will partner with various immigrant rights and legal organizations to conduct a series of workshops and trainings around the borough and city to disseminate the manual and educate communities about legal rights, benefits and services.

The manual is an unprecedented comprehensive tool that explains legal rights, public benefits eligibility and public programs and services in a wide range of areas in a straightforward and comprehensible format. A lengthy appendix offers contact information for relevant organizations and government agencies.

“Today in our city, forty percent of our population is foreign born.  Asian Americans, Latinos, Africans, Eastern Europeans, Caribbean Americans – people from every corner of the world come to every corner of our borough," said Borough President Stringer. "Our economic, cultural, social, and civic life could not progress without the immigrant community's positive impact on our city. However, immigrants disproportionately lack access to information about their legal rights and the many benefits and services that are available to them, including many important services for undocumented immigrants. This manual is intended to help fill the gap of information and access by providing a road map of resources that may assist immigrant communities and all New Yorkers in fulfilling our potential as a city.”

The Immigrant Rights and Services Manual offers a breadth of information that is unprecedented in one manual or publication in New York.  The 70 page manual provides practical information about wide ranging issues such as workers rights, education, small business services, various public benefits and many other issues. Some relatively recent developments and new issues addressed by the manual include:

 

• New York City policies affecting immigrants, such as Mayoral Executive Order 41 which protects the confidentiality of immigration status and promotes access to services for undocumented immigrants and Mayoral Executive Order 120, which requires language access for City government;
• A description of immigrant-related law enforcement services provided by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Immigrant Affairs Unit;
• Information about Governor Paterson’s new Pardon Panel to assist individuals who are subject to deportation;
• College financial assistance for undocumented students; and
• Voting rights and ways to become civically involved through participation in community boards, community education councils, and other neighborhood groups.

The manual will be actively disseminated throughout the city through a series of workshops and trainings in collaboration with major immigrant rights and legal organizations. Each workshop/training will feature an important topic such as workers rights, immigration consultant fraud and other topics and also include a basic overview of the content of the Immigrant Rights and Services Manual.

To Download The Manual Click Here