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Support for Naturalization. We're excited to share a new offering for our immigrant communities - free citizenship classes to help you prepare for your citizenship exam/ interview! View the flyer below for the classes that started on September 7th as well as the flyer for our next citizenship clinic on November 2nd.
Immigrant Inclusion Mini Grants. Our third round of immigrant inclusion mini grants is now open! This program seeks to provide unrestricted funds to community-driven initiatives (new projects or ongoing work) at three different grant award levels: $10,000, $20,000, and $30,000; with funds anticipated to be released starting in January 2025. The application is currently available in English and Spanish - if you'd like to receive the application in another language, please submit a request by September 15. Learn more. |
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- In late August, Austin City Council adopted a resolution to deprioritize enforcement of Texas' SB4 immigration law. Austin now becomes the second city in Texas to come out in opposition to SB4. The City of Dallas passed a similar resolution in June.
- Members of LULAC across the state of Texas have had their homes raided following Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's announcement that his office was launching undercover operations and an investigation into reports alleging some organizations in Texas are unlawfully registering noncitizens to vote. LULAC officials shared that some of the group's Texas members were targeted and had their laptops and cell phones confiscated by Texas authorities executing search warrants. Some of the raids have focused on Latino activists in Texas.
- Since their debut at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, the Refugee Olympic team, representing millions of refugees and forcibly displaced people worldwide, keeps making history. This summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cindy Ngamba (a Cameroonian refugee who now lives in the UK), won the team its first-ever medal.
- On August 19, the Biden administration began receiving applications for its new Parole in Place / "Keeping Families Together" program, which could provide parole to approximately 500,000 undocumented spouses and 50,000 stepchildren of U.S. citizens who have lived in the U.S. for 10+ years.
- On August 26, a federal court in Texas ordered a temporary pause on the Parole in Place program, preventing USCIS from granting parole applications for 14 days. The court recently extended the ruling, halting USCIS from granting parole under this program until September 23. During this time, USCIS can continue to accept these parole applications, but cannot approve them.
- A group of states, headed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, have sued to block a new rule that allows Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients to access health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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Saturday, September 7 - Saturday, October 12 @ 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST
Citizenship Classes (6-week course)
Southeast Branch Library - 5803 Nuckols Crossing Road, Austin, TX 78744
Austin Public Library and the Equity Office are partnering with the LBJ Presidential Library to offer free citizenship classes to the public! The classes will be taught in English - some English proficiency is needed for these classes. Materials will be provided at no cost to participants.
During this 6-week course, participants will develop a foundation in civics that will help them prepare for their naturalization exam. They will also prepare for their citizenship interview by practicing reading, writing, and reviewing vocabulary in English. Please note that even though the class already started, people are still able to join! |
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Saturday, September 14 @ 10:00 AM
Refugee Arts & Crafts Bazaar
Town Lake YMCA - 1100 W. Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX 78703
This free community event features the work of refugees from several parts of the world who have recently settled in Austin. The artisans will be showcasing hand-made goods, clothing, gift items, homemade traditional foods and fresh-baked pastries and treats. One hundred percent of proceeds go directly to the vendors. |
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Tuesday, September 17 @ 12:00 PM CST
The Role and Rights of Immigrant Workers in Urban Development
Immigrant workers are the unspoken backbone of the building and construction trades in cities across America – on landscape and parks projects, on residential and commercial buildings and yes, even on public and infrastructure projects.
This session will explore the contributions and impact that immigrant workers make in building and fixing our cities, the biggest labor and human rights issues facing this workforce and the business structures unique to the building and construction industry that perpetuate these conditions.
And it will point to how groups from immigrant advocates, public technologists, media organizations,and nonprofits and researchers are fighting back to highlight the scale of the issue, give workers the tools to better understand and assert their labor rights, and push city and state governments to do better on labor rights for immigrant workers and standards enforcement. Register here.
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Local government is important. It impacts your daily life, from how much you pay in property taxes to how long you sit in traffic each day. And yet, following along with everything that happens at City Hall can be really hard… especially if you don’t really know how it works. That’s where The Austin Common’s Local Government 101 program comes in!
All Local Government 101 attendees receive a copy of our “A Beginner’s Guide To Local Government” zine. It’s hand-drawn by local artists, explains the basics of how Austin’s government works, and comes with stickers! Learn more here. |
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Wednesday, September 25 @ 6:00 PM CST
Equity Action Team Meeting
Street-Jones Building - 1000 E. 11th Street, 4th Floor Conference Room
We are excited to have you for our in-person September EAT meeting! We'll connect over a meal, and then get our meeting started by 6:30pm.
On the agenda: childcare presentation and discussion with GAVA. Register here.
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The FY25-26 Budget Input Sessions are facilitated by the City’s Joint Inclusion Boards and Commissions
- Join the budget input sessions and share your community’s needs and interests
- Influence advocacy priorities for all commissions
- Help shape fiscal year 2025-2026 budget recommendations
For interpretation or accessibility, email equity@austintexas.gov. Please request accommodations and/or language interpretation no later than five days before the meeting you wish to attend. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Reasonable accommodations and access to effective communication can be provided upon request.
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On June 17, 2024, the Biden administration announced a “Keeping Families Together” parole-in-place process (KFT parole). KFT parole allows certain undocumented spouses and step-children of U.S. citizens to stay and work in the U.S. If granted KFT parole, this opens a path to apply for lawful permanent residency (a green card). Unfortunately, the process places broad restrictions on who can be granted KFT parole, unfairly penalizing immigrants who have had contact with the police and the criminal legal system. This unjustly leaves out many immigrants and is rooted in racist policing and prosecution practices which should not be used to tear families apart.
This national resource is meant to help immigrants understand how their contact with the criminal legal system can affect their ability to get KFT parole. View the FAQ in English. Spanish translation coming soon.
Update August 27, 2024: Due to a pending lawsuit filed against KFT parole, there is a temporary stay in place. This means that USCIS will still accept applications but they are unable to approve KFT parole during this time. Visit for www.uscis.gov/keepingfamiliestogether for more information.
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