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Austin
City Hall : 301 W. 2nd Street, RM 1101 : Austin,
TX 78701 |
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>About Us
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The
Austin Commission of Immigrant Affairs
objectives and functions include:
Advise the City Council on issues of common
concern to immigrants, particularly in the areas
of health and human services, education, and the
demographic make-up of the Austin immigrant
community;
Monitor requirements of federal, state, and
local immigration, welfare and other laws that
affect immigrants;
Recommend to the City Council actions to
maximize the benefits to local immigrants under
existing laws and to minimize the adverse
impacts to local immigrants under the law;
Promote recognition of the contribution of the
foreign-born to the economic and cultural
vitality of Austin; and
Promote the availability of, and promote
accessibility to, local municipal educational,
legal, and social resources for immigrants.
The Commission worked
on the following issue areas in fiscal year
2005-2006:
Worked with City Council to renew the Day
Labor Community Advisory Committee, which
includes a Council-appointed seat reserved for
an ACIA member. ACIA participated in the DLCAC
meetings from May through the end of the fiscal
year and served on the working group to research
and present on Day Labor Best Practices.
Researched the federal legislation, DREAM Act,
which would provide federal college tuition
loans and work permits to qualified undocumented
high school and college graduates. ACIA
submitted a recommendation to City Council to
adopt a resolution in support of the DREAM Act.
No response or communication was ever received
back from Council members or staff.
Received request from local Austin coalition
to endorse a proposed resolution to oppose
certain practices and philosophies of the
Minuteman Project in Austin. ACIA provided
feedback and recommendations on the language of
the proposed Resolution, and voted to endorse
the Resolution and recommend Council adoption
after such changes were made.
Assessed multi-lingual language access for
non-English speakers within City of Austin
Bergstrom Airport signage to ensure that
information on airport usage was available for
all international travelers to and from Austin.
Met with Assistant Director of Aviation at a
Commission meeting and held a lengthy discussion
on how the international signage used was
accessible for all but the smallest minority of
airport travelers.
Determined that airport signage met
international and Federal standards for airport
communications and safety for international
standards.
Developed preliminary web site design ideas
for a Web page for the Commission
Developed a philosophy of the ACIA web site.
Appointment of a web site sub-committee.
Chose a name for the ACIA web site,
Developed an opt in program for stakeholders
to opt in for placement of their organization on
the web site
Determined that ACIA web site is a work in
progress with ambitious goals to be slowly due
to the unique nature of the site.
Tracked local media coverage of immigrant
issues in Austin and used press and media
outreach to promote the contributions of the
immigrant community.
Developed the philosophy of Channel 6 public
service messages that are to be developed in the
coming year.
With the addition of Jose Fuentes, Executive
Producer for the Austin Spanish language
television station, Univision, the ACIA moved
the addition of immigration related programming
to the top of our agenda.
Determined that the only impediment to our
creation of programming for Channel Six was our
need for a studio to produce programming,
Brainstormed legal issues that are present in
public programming,
Brainstormed topics of interest for public
programming,
Planned sub committee meeting at Univision for
January 2007 to further develop programming
ideas with Univisions General manager,
Participated in the creation, design,
implementation and writing of the final report
for the 2006 Travis County Immigrant Assessment.
A community organization solicited ACIA
support for a full time City staff position.
After discussion and on the recommendation of
City Staff member, Ms. Susan Gehring, the ACIA
met with members of Travis County Research and
Planning to discuss the question. Travis County
R & P gathered interested stakeholders within
the City and Travis County to develop a
methodology for conducting an assessment.
Travis County R & P, with the help and input
of stakeholders conducted focus groups from 25
different groups of foreign nationals of the
community.
The results of the assessment, to be published
January 2007, will be available to all
stakeholders within Austin and Travis County.
Data gleaned from the assessment will allow
stakeholders to apply for private, state and
federal grants. The data will provide
justification for budget adjustments. ACIA
chair, Thomas Esparza, Jr. made several
presentations in behalf of the stak eholders to
interested parties throughout the City. These
included the Association of Latinos in Social
Work Social Justice Conference and the Capital
Area Network Executive Committee.
The ACIA participation in the Travis County
Immigrant Assessment of 2006 will stand out as
one of the most significant accomplishments of
the past year. That the ACIA is credited with
the initial idea for the assessment is due in
large part to the leadership provided by our
Staff mentor; Ms. Susan Gehring. The ACIA
expects the Travis County Immigrant Assessment
to provide millions of dollars of grants to
Austin and Travis County.
For more information, please email us at
info@austinimmigrantaffairs.org
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