C-U Immigration Forum

This year, the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) members have voted to focus their efforts on getting drivers certificates for undocumented immigrants .  We cannot win this fight without the support of groups across the state.  La Colectiva is dedicated to these efforts but we cannot win this effort in Central Illinois without your help.  If we win Drivers Certificates, it will eliminate much of the work we do around Secure Communities to keep our communities out of jail.  ICIRR will be having their first statewide Springfield Lobby Day on Wednesday, February 29th . We need to make sure that our communities come out to show our local representatives that we mean business.  The more buses we have from communities around the state, the more we can make our voices heard. La Colectiva and C-U Immigration Forum are organizing a bus (maybe two?) to Springfield.  Sign up, help us lobby and win driving certificates f...

News-Gazette Article:  URBANA — Applications will be accepted through March 2 for appointment to a nine-member citizens' advisory committee on county jail and social services issues. The appointments will be made by Michael Richards, a Champaign Democrat who is deputy chair of the county board's Justice & Social Services Committee. Richards will serve as chair of the Champaign County Community Justice Task Force that is being formed to advise the county board on issues related to the adequacy of existing court services and whether to remodel the downtown jail or close it and build an addition to the satellite jail in east Urbana. "There is no sunset date on this. It's possible we'll be working on this for quite a while," he said. "I see this as a pretty long process with at least monthly meetings and perhaps some forums out in the community." The full board — which voted to create the panel at its committee of the wh...

I am very happy to report that Royse & Brinkmeyer Chief Operating Officer Colin Carlier spent Valentines Day evening hand-delivering letters to the Congolese households on Mattis Street offering them the opportunity to renew their leases. We have spoken with 8 of the 11 families, and we're pretty confident the other three also received similar offers. The company's decision to reverse its unfair decision came just about five hours after you first began to send email and make phone calls. This is a real testament to the power of collective action to make a real difference for working families. Of course, for these families, this is just the beginning of their struggle to build a better life for themselves in the United States. Many of them still face serious health and safety issues on the job, and must stretch to make ends meet every month. We remain committed to helping the workers at Flex-N-Gate to form their union. We're in the process of planning a ser...

Urgent Situation:  Workers at Flex-N-Gate’s Guardian West Plant in Urbana have been working together to form a union for many months now. They are paid wages that keep them hovering at the poverty line, and often work in dangerous conditions. A group of workers at the plant who have stood up for change at their workplace are facing another crisis.  Last weekend, Congolese families living at the Continental Plaza and Stoneleigh Court apartment complexes simultaneously received letters from their landlord Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments stating the company will not renew their leases. The letter went onto say that the landlord has had less than satisfactory experiences with these tenants. To our knowledge, every single Congolese resident in these buildings will lose their lease. No one else in the complex appears to have received a similar letter. Altogether, 11 households will be affected when their leases expire in the coming months. Seven of these apar...

On February 16th, 17th, and 18th, the City of Urbana will be hosting a series of workshops facilitated by Ondra Berry.  Mr. Berry is a nationally-recognized facilitator who has spent years helping communities improve police-community relations.  The workshops are intended to reinforce the Urbana Police Department’s ongoing commitment to enforcing the law in a fair and unbiased manner.  The itinerary is as follows: Non-Biased Police Training (4 Sessions) - Registration Required Thursday, February 16th 1st Session - 8am to noon 2nd Session - 1pm to 5pm Friday, February 17th 1st Session - 8am to noon 2nd Session -1pm to 5pm * Registration is required.  These sessions are intended to provide Urbana police officers with a review of non-biased policing principles.   The Department has provided (5) five spaces per session for interested community members.  Any community member interested in attending one of the...