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Description
Earlier this year the US government announced that it would provide aid to its citizens in the form of a stimulus check in response to the changes that followed the COVID-19 epidemic. This support left out 12 million undocumented immigrants, the majority of which are tax-paying members of society. Along with receiving no federal aid, the undocumented population is disproportionately affected by the shifts in labor and a comparably high transmission rate. This talk will explore how we mobilized a network of volunteers and organizations to provide aid to 125 undocumented families across 15 states within a two-week period in April.
A
Before
we
start
our
presentation
on
how
we
mobilize
for
our
community
network
to
aid
undocumented
workers,
I
want
to
give
a
special
thanks
to
octogatos
and
the
organizing
team
for
setting
all
of
this
up,
they're
doing
a
wonderful
job
and
yeah
before
we
start.
I'd
also
like
to
acknowledge
the
the
traditional
owners
of
the
land
that
we're
streaming
from
we're
currently
in
the
bay
area
and
the
traditional
owners
are
the
oloni
people.
A
We
pay
our
respects
to
elders,
past
present
and
emerging
and
stand
in
solidarity
with
indigenous
people
of
this
land
in
their
struggle
for
recognition,
reparations
and
land
rights,
and
we
also
stand
in
solidarity
with
those
fighting.
Racial
justice,
justice
and
unequivoc
unequivocally
assert
that,
like
black
lives
matter,
so
I'd
like
to
introduce
tequila,
if
you
don't
know
tequila,
yet
we
are
a
501c3
nonprofit
that
serves
the
largest
community
of
latinx
in
tech.
A
B
Hi
everyone,
my
name,
is
donatio
ramos.
I
am
one
of
the
co-chairs
for
jersey,
tech
and
dreamers
in
tech
is
a
network
of
undocumented
individuals
and
allies
committed
to
increase
diversity
and
inclusion
in
the
tech
industry.
Jameson
tech
is
on
a
mission
to
create
safe
spaces
where
the
tech
industry
can
meet
the
undocumented
community,
and
we
want
to
help
our
undocumented
community
by
establishing
connections,
providing
resources
and
helping
individuals
on
their
narratives.
A
A
So
we
mentioned
here
mutual
aid,
specifically
instead
of
charity,
because
it's
our
guiding
philosophy
for
this
fund
and
mutual
aid
is
about
recognizing
that
we're
all
facing
overlapping
struggles
that
we
need
to
work
together,
not
necessarily
for
one
another,
but
with
one
another
in
a
way.
That's
respectful
and
shows
solidarity,
and
this
is
why,
when
we
were
envisioning
this
project,
we
incorporated
undocumented
members
of
our
community
and
beyond
in
every
step
of
the
process.
B
B
B
Those
undocumented
communities
over
11
million
undocumented
individuals
are
part
of
our
communities
across
the
country
and
they're
also
taxpayers
and
those
who
filed
their
taxes
using
an
individual
taxpayer.
Identification
number
an
itin
for
short
and
instead
of
a
social
security,
did
not
receive
that
stimulus
check
so,
for
example,
in
a
family
where
there's
individuals
of
mixed
status.
B
They're
just
they're,
just
not
as
lucky
to
have
organizations
that
provide
that
aid
or
just
provide
information
during
these
difficult
situations
and
the
career
wants
to
help
our
most
vulnerable
members.
In
this
time
in
crisis,
and
it's
clear
that
we're
living
in
an
unprecedented
and
unpredictable
moment,
and
we
will
only
get
through
it
by
coming
together.
A
C
A
Phases
so
we
weren't,
we
never
carried
out
a
fund
like
this
or
had
a
project
like
this.
We
traditionally
focus
on
creating
events
and
providing
like
professional
networking
opportunities,
so
this
was
a
big
shift
for
us
in
capability
as
a
non-profit,
so
our
initial
phase
was
coming
together
as
a
core
group
of
volunteers
and
on
the
week
of
march
22nd
and
just
assessing
like
what.
What
is
it?
A
What
is
it
that
we
can
do
and
what
is
a
timeline
that
we
want
to
do
it
in,
and
we
decided
that,
given
the
situation,
we
wanted
to
act
quickly
in
a
time
frame
of
two
weeks
and
based
on
our
core
group
and
also
our
partners
that
we
could
make
that
happen,
and
we
had
a
goal
of
raising
fifty
thousand
dollars.
So
we
established
an
initial
application
process
that
was
live.
A
So
next
was
establishing
a
workflow
to
process
those
applications.
So,
like
I
said,
we
had
an
initial
application
that
was
multilingual
and
once
we
got
all
of
those
we
actually
went
through
around
10
and
20
together
as
a
group
and
just
on
start
to
like
understand
like
how
people
were
expressing
themselves.
A
And
so
once
that
happened,
we
reduced
the
amount
of
applications
to
around
250.
It
was
a
very
difficult
choice
because
everyone
had
a
need,
but
with
those
250
we
had
an
additional
application
phase
where
we
asked
for
supporting
documentation
and
they,
the
applicant
sent
us
that
through
email
through
through
photos-
and
we
also
connected
directly
with
them
through
text
and
phone
when
necessary.
A
So
once
the
second
phase
was
done,
we
we
came
with
around
120
plus
applications
that
were
successfully
verified,
and
we
felt
confident
that
we
had
done
all
of
our
due
diligence
for,
and
so
the
next
phase
was
distribution,
and
this
was
an
interesting
part
because
70
of
our
applicants
had
a
bank
account.
So
for
for
that,
demographic,
it
was.
Distribution
was
fairly
easy
because
we
could
send
funds
through
a
digital
check
and
that
could
be
received
within
30
minutes
in
some
cases.
A
In
other
cases,
maybe
one
to
two
days
for
the
applicants
that
did
not
have
a
bank
account
is
a
big
bit
trickier
and
for
that
demographic
we
partnered
up
with
an
organization
called
community
financial
resources
that
has
a
lot
of
experience,
dealing
with
undocumented
communities
and
providing
aid
to
them
directly
and
so
through
them.
We
were
able
to
provide
prepaid
visa
check
cards
with
tracking
and
applicants
receive
those
within
three
to
five
business
days.
B
Yeah,
I
think
just
a
reminder
that
I
think
it's
just
easy
to
not
take
action,
but
during
this
pandemic
the
most
affected
communities.
There's
people
suffering
that
the
people
suffering
from
homelessness
will
increase.
The
most
disadvantage
tend
to
live
paycheck
by
paycheck
and
families.
Often
families
in
these
communities
often
lack
savings
to
cover
emergency
medical
needs
or
any
type
of
health
emergency
that
may
arise,
but
I
think,
as
for
taking
this
going
through
this
fundraising,
we
did.
What
do
we
leverage?
B
B
I
think
that
was
just
one
of
the
things
that
they
were
very
excited
about,
like
being
able
to
cover
families
in
just
in
different
regions
and
yeah,
and
just
talking
about
the
income
level
of
the
of
these
applicants,
I
think
almost
over
99
percent
were
considered
low
wage
workers,
42
percent
were
unemployed
and
58
had
an
hourly
wage
lower
than
20
dollars
an
hour.
And
yes,
I
think,
like
it
was
mentioned
before.
30
of
applicants
didn't
have
a
bank
account.
A
Yeah-
and
so
we
did
this
in
a
span
of
two
weeks,
if
we
were
to
do
this
fund
for
six
months
to
a
year,
we
would
do
a
lot
of
things
differently.
One
of
them
was
to
set
up
a
proper
fiscal
fund
for
this
purpose,
we're
501c3
and
there's
different
types
of
tax-exempt
organizations
just
for
this
purpose,
and
we
would
leverage
that
we
would
also,
in
terms
of
scaling
this
to
more
people,
would
need
more
full-time
support.
A
A
B
Yes,
thank
you
and
we're
happy
to
be
here,
thank
you
for
for
octagons,
too
or
for
organizing
this,
and
we
hope
that
yeah,
ergs
and
other
communities
that
have
the
power
and
the
capacity
to
help
this
community
is
take
action
and
they
can
always
do
that
by
connecting
with
us,
and
we
hope
to
hear
from
you.
Thank
you.