Mid-Shore Pro Bono Collaborates In Offering Immigration Resources

Immigration_Workshop_2 (400 x 323)On August 18, Mid-Shore Pro Bono participated in offering a Pathways to Citizenship program to educate the local community on immigration issues. Collaborating with Mid-Shore Pro Bono in presenting the sessions were Catholic Charities of Baltimore’s Esperanza Center Immigration Legal Services and Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center (ChesMRC).

A community effort, Easton’s Neighborhood Service Center provided space for the program and volunteers from throughout the area attended.

The Managing Attorney and Pro Bono Coordinator from the Esperanza Center in Baltimore conducted two workshops. One provided education on immigration remedies, reform and how to prepare for it. The second offered information on the Department of Homeland Security’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, which provides an option for certain immigrants who came into the country as children.

Mid-Shore Pro Bono Executive Director Sandy Brown said the collaboration on this program allows the agency to extend its reach further into the local populations most in need of the free or reduced-cost legal services it provides.

“The Esperanza Center offers comprehensive services to immigrants, including immigration legal services, and the Multicultural Resource Center works to break down the cultural and language barriers that can prevent those resources from reaching the people who need them,” she said. “Working together, we can make a difference in the lives of an often overlooked segment of our Mid-Shore community.”

Mid-Shore Pro Bono is a nonprofit agency serving Kent, Queen Anne’s, Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester counties. For more information or to make a donation, call 410-690-8128 or visitwww.midshoreprobono.org.

In photo: Immigration_Workshop_2.jpg: Workshop participants included, from left, Matt Peters, ChesMRC; Marilyn Neal, Neighborhood Service Center; attorney Kevin Rosenthal; Maria D’Arcy, ChesMRC; Sandy Brown, Mid-Shore Pro Bono; Sonia Perez, Talbot Bank; and Adonia Simpson and Ouranitsa Abbas of Catholic Charities.