OSC Announces 2003-04 Grantees

IMMIGRANTS & EMPLOYMENT

IRCA Employment Verification and
Antidiscrimination Protections

OSC ANNOUNCES 2003-04 GRANTEES
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 17, Issue 5 September 4, 2003

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) has awarded nearly $675,000 in grants to eleven nonprofit organizations, which will conduct public education programs for workers and employers about immigration-related job discrimination, the OSC announced on Aug. 14. The grants range from $40,000 to $85,000, providing critical support to these organizations beginning Oct. 1, 2003, and continuing through Sept. 30, 2004.

The OSC's mission is to educate workers and employers about the antidiscrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, enforce legal protections against citizenship and national origin-based discrimination, and document-related abuse in hiring and firing. The OSC is part of the U.S. Dept. of Justice's Civil Rights Division and is independent from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigrations Services (BCIS) and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) that are part of the new Dept. of Homeland Security.

The new grantees include the New York City Commission on Human Rights, in conjunction with the New York Immigration Coalition, which will provide education in all five boroughs of New York City in addition to other counties outside of New York City and whose workshops will focus on employers, service providers, and immigrant workers; the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, in partnership with the Asian Law Caucus of San Francisco, which will educate workers and employers in Los Angeles and San Francisco; and the San Diego-based International Rescue Committee, which will provide antidiscrimination education to refugees, asylees, and other immigrant workers.

Catholic Charities of Dallas, another grantee, will provide services to workers and employers in northern Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, while Catholic Charities of Houston will educate employers and workers in southwestern Texas, including key communities along the Mexican border. Catholic Charities of St. Petersburg in Florida will use its grant to provide educational workshops to workers and small businesses through its network of service providers. And Hogar Hispano/Catholic Charities of Arlington, Virginia, will educate employers, as well as workers in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., area.

The Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta will provide education services to employers and Hispanic workers throughout Georgia. The Illinois Dept. of Human Rights, which is based in Chicago, will focus on employers, immigration service providers, and workers in a statewide educational program. And Legal Aid Services of Oregon will educate agricultural workers with a statewide media campaign and group presentations.

NILC also received funding from the OSC with which it will conduct a national program to educate immigration service providers and pro bono attorneys through a series of workshops and conference presentations around the country, as well as regional seminars in Phoenix, Arizona; Miami, Florida; and Orange County, California. More information about the grantees and the OSC's work can be found at www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc.