By Jossy Gelpi, shared with St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square on January 31, 2016

In October 2007 I was 41 years old, I made a decision and left all my family and friends in Puerto Rico to live in the Poconos, Pennsylvania even when I had no idea how to live in a cold weather and having never seen snow in my life. Why? Because I fell in love with a wonderful man, Rich, and I agreed to start a new life with him as his wife.

I made that decision. I chose and accepted the new challenge to be a housewife. Probably you will say that Puerto Rico is not a foreign country and I made the decision willingly, therefore I am not an immigrant. And if I heard someone saying this I would also come to the same conclusion. Continue reading “NIJFON volunteer testimony on the importance of local church community” →

On December 8, 2015 United Methodist Bishop Sally Dyck traveled to Capitol Hill to add her voice to those of other national faith leaders and three U.S. senators calling for lawmakers to show mercy and allow Syrian refugees to resettle in the U.S. Read more here.

The year of 2015 has been an amazing year for Northern Illinois JFON! Our Board of Directors decided that for us to continue to grow in fulfilling our vision, and expanding our mission, that we needed to hire a Director of Development (part-time). We are excited that Susan Yanun will be joining our staff, beginning January 4, 2016!

Susan has spent years fighting for social justice, immigrant rights, and community-led grassroots planning and development, much of the time through her position as the New Communities Program Director and Planning Director of Logan Square Neighborhood Association in Chicago, IL. She began her experience with NIJFON as the Chicago Clinic Co-Coordinator for three years. In her new role as Director of Development, Susan plans to work with the board, staff attorneys, and clinic volunteers to diversify and increase funding for Northern Illinois JFON to build its capacity and increase its ability to fulfill its mission of providing high quality, free legal service, education and advocacy. Continue reading “NIJFON Welcomes Susan Yanun as Director of Development” →

A step-by-step guide to the rigorous process for refugee entry into the U.S.

The following images come from this post on whitehouse.gov, where you can also read the full text of the workflow. Click on each image to view it alone or view the whole workflow as one image on whitehouse.gov.

Refugees undergo more rigorous screening than anyone else we allow into the United States. Here’s what the screening process looks like for them: Continue reading “The Screening Process for Refugee Entry into the United States” →

Personal reflection from NIJFON’s Supervisory Attorney, Jennifer Ansay:

I do. I know 9. Not a whole lot, I admit, but the ones I do know, I know really well. Really, really well. Probably better than most of their families or closest friends know them. Because of the nature of our relationships, I need to know about their lives in a very detailed way. Having to get the kind of information from them that I need, I sort of develop a close relationship out of necessity. Out of the 9 Syrians I know, I can say without any reservation that they are all exactly the kinds of people we want and need to have in the United States.

The first Syrian person I met, and the one I know the best, is …

One of the strongest women I know.

Continue reading “Do y’all even know any Syrians?” →