HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The Immigrant Affairs Taskforce has recommended the county create an Office of Immigrant Affairs.
The taskforce released its 26-page final report that stated the goal of the office would be to address the multi-faceted needs facing the county's immigrant communities and to serve as a resource coordinator to help connect constituents to available services, determine where to go for assistance and move seamlessly through multiple service systems.
The taskforce made the following recommendations pertaining to the proposed structure, staffing and placement of an Office of Immigrant Affairs:
The report also offered 35 comprehensive recommendations in five areas, which are detailed below.
The Office of Immigrant Affairs should coordinate culturally appropriate opportunities across government, schools, nonprofits, businesses and faith institutions. The report recommends establishing a centralized case management system for education institutions with access extended to a student's entire family.
Moreover, the office would coordinate with education institutions to create pathways for school counselors and other staff to connect a student or family with the Office of Immigrant Affairs. The office's role would be to strengthen interagency coordination to provide meaningful support to immigrants and their families.
Increasing community trust and public safety engagement for the immigrant community remains a top concern. The report recommends the Office of Immigrant Affairs maintain a public directory and referral chart for residents to find specialized help for various immigrant issues.
Moreover, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should help residents navigate issues such as understanding the difference between county policy and federal immigration enforcement actions, consumer protection and fraud prevention, and how county agencies handle residents' personal information in coordination with the county's Office of Law.
The report recommends the Office of Immigrant Affairs coordinate and align existing services across Howard County public agencies, nonprofits and businesses. The Office of Immigrant Affairs should explore creating a roundtable with community partners to coordinate and align existing services. Additionally, the office should identify barriers to services and explore potential solutions to the barriers.
The Office of Immigrant Affairs also should analyze service data across the county to identify trends, utilization and emerging community needs. This can be done through ongoing research on policies and services to assess the efficacy of existing policies and services for the immigrant community.
An important and repeated theme throughout the report is language access. The Office of Immigrant Affairs would inform and assist the county and its partners with legal requirements related to language access. The creation of a Language Access Plan would establish a framework to ensure language access is embedded throughout the county.
The report recommends developing strong workforce support for the immigrant community through the establishment of a coordinated referral network with the Office of Workforce Development and its community partners. Additionally, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should engage employers throughout the county to align training and career pathways with local labor market needs.
The office should connect immigrant entrepreneurs and businesses with the Howard County Economic Development Authority and existing economic development resources.
Immigrants may be targeted for financial scams due to several factors, including language limitations. To reduce this population's vulnerability to scams, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should establish outreach programs aimed at increasing awareness amongst immigrant community of resources offered by the Office of Consumer Protection and its Howard County Financial Empowerment Center.
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