Mission: Ayuda envisions a community where all immigrants overcome obstacles in order to succeed and thrive in the United States. We realize our vision by advocating for low-income immigrants through direct legal, social and language services, training and outreach in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
Website: http://ayuda.com/wp/be-involved/become-a-volunteer/
Volunteer form: N/A
Email: N/A
Phone: (202) 387-4848
What volunteers do:
- Become a blogger.
- Organize a donation drive: clothing, can goods, blankets, books, etc.
- Organize your own Ayuda Happy Hour fundraising event. Philanthropy and socializing make for quite a cocktail.
- Share your talent with staff on such topic as public speaking, management skills, work/life balance, yoga, or an artistic skill.
- Offer your expertise! Examples of professionals needed from time to time: photographers, videographers, graphic designers, social media guru, copywriters, and editors.
- Ayuda also seeks attorneys, social workers, and medical professionals wishing to accept cases on a pro bono basis. Any professional interested in accepting a case or providing mental health or medical assistance should contact Carolina De Los Rios at carolinadelosrios@ayuda.com. For pro-bono attorneys, please contact Susannah Volpe if you practice in Maryland or DC at susannah@ayuda.com or Victoria Lopez if you practice in Virginia at victorialopez@ayuda.com.
Mission: The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is the only non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. area with a legal services program focused exclusively on assisting detained immigrant men, women, and children in jails and juvenile facilities in Maryland and Virginia. CAIR Coalition’s newest programmatic initiative, the Virginia Justice Program (VJP), strives to ensure that non-citizens receive equal justice in Virginia criminal courts. We provide support to members of Virginia’s criminal defense bar in their representation of non-citizen defendants and also conduct litigation and advocacy at the intersection of criminal-immigration law. The Community Conversations Project is designed to provide holistic and culturally competent workshops on immigrants’ rights, defenses against deportation, as well as rights against gender and domestic violence. Our Gender-Based Violence workshop promotes awareness of gender-based violence and its impacts on legal status and eligibility for relief against deportation. All presentations include information for families through partnerships with local schools, community centers, and other nonprofits.
Website: https://www.caircoalition.org/how-to-help/volunteering
Volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHFpVhMPtnQUAv4_xTcycjNXGxYTECQ341rWsKLGHiMkr_SQ/viewform
Email: Contact Kelly Rojas at kelly.rojas@caircoalition.org for jail visit, translation/interpretation, or detention hotline volunteer opportunities. Contact Michael Lukens at michael@caircoalition.org for medical and mental health volunteer opportunities.
Phone: N/A
What volunteers do:
- Help answer the Detention Line for detained noncitizens and family members. Help with initial intakes, provide additional information to the detainee/their family about the detention and removal process, as well as connect detainees to their attorneys. Detention line volunteers may also assist with preparations for weekly jail visits, research criminal records and help with case follow-up and translations. Training is required.
- Help with jail visits. Assist CAIR Coalition staff with intakes, interpreting, and distributing information to the detainees.
- Translate/Interpret. Translate documents from a foreign language to English and /or interpret for staff and pro bono attorneys.
- Medical/Mental Health Evaluation Help. Refugees who need to apply for a special waiver in order to avoid deportation need a medical evaluation performed by a designated civil surgeon and to be up to date on their vaccines in order to complete the application for the waiver. If the individual does not have the resources to pay a physician to come to the detention center, volunteer medical professionals are needed who are willing to take the time to visit a detention center on a pro bono basis.
FYI:
- All volunteers must fill out volunteer application on the website.
- For the Detention line, CAIR Coalition is particularly looking for volunteers who speak Spanish, French, or Arabic. Volunteers can sign up for one or more two-hour shift a week, or as their schedule permits, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Ideally, we are looking for volunteers who could do more than one shift a week.
- For the Jail visits, additional training is required. No knowledge of the law is required. There is a particular need for Spanish-speakers. Also seeking volunteers who speak French, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, Arabic, Russian, Farsi, or Mandarin.
Mission: CARECEN’s mission is to foster the comprehensive development of the Latino population in the Washington metropolitan region by providing direct services, while promoting grassroots empowerment, civic engagement, and human rights advocacy.
Website: http://www.carecendc.org/join-us/volunteer/
Volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnIkpmWb7DOl4gOtTBua6nSCAObhOdncqHPQA60zZRcbBBbA/viewform
Email: info@carecendc.org
Phone: (202) 328-9799
What volunteers do:
- Provide assistance with data entry, help organize educational events such as workshops and informational sessions. Help staff with clerical duties such as general filing and correspondence work, answering phones as needed.
- Serve as mock interviewer for students of CARECEN’s citizenship classes (no Spanish required; 3 hour one-time session).
- Help immigrants fill out their form N-400 applications for citizenship (training provided by immigration attorney; 5 hour one-time session).
- Teach citizenship classes (classes are Tuesdays 6-8 pm and Saturdays 10 am-12 pm and 2:30-4:30 pm). A two hour commitment for 12 weeks is expected.
- Teach ESL classes (classes are Wednesdays 6-8 pm and Saturdays 12:30-2:15 pm. A two hour commitment for 12 weeks is expected.
- Tutor students preparing for their naturalization test on a need basis, usually weeknights and Saturdays. Contact Carecen for times and dates.
- Participate in advocacy campaigns around immigration reform and citizenship expansion.
FYI:
- Attorneys interested in working pro bono on immigration casework should contact Andrea Rodriguez, Director of Legal Services at arodriguez@carecendc.org.
Mission: CIVIC is a national immigration detention visitation network, working to end the U.S. immigration detention system by monitoring human-rights abuses, elevating stories, building community-based alternatives to detention, and advocating for system change.
Website: http://www.endisolation.org/get-involved/become-a-volunteer/
Volunteer form: N/A
Email: info@endisolation.org
Phone: N/A
What volunteers do:
- Staff national hotline for people in immigration detention.
- Become a pen pal with a detainee.
- Visit detention centers.
- Start a new visitation program.
- Consult on fundraising.
- Engage the public with stories about CIVIC.
Mission: The ACLU of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC), with more than 8,500 local members, fights to protect and expand civil liberties and civil rights for people who live, work, and visit D.C., and in matters involving federal employees and agencies. Those who join us also become members of the National ACLU. ACLU-DC pursues its mission through legal action, legislative advocacy, and public education. In addition to representing clients in court, sometimes we work with government agencies to defend liberty without litigation. We also testify and lobby before the D.C. Council, and we educate the public through Know Your Rights trainings and materials, appearances on radio and television, social media activity, and meetings with community groups.
Website: https://www.acludc.org/en/volunteer
Volunteer form: https://action.aclu.org/secure/dc-volunteer
Email: N/A
Phone: (202) 457-0800
What volunteers do:
- Help with community organizing, grassroots lobbying, research, writing, and online activism.
- Provide fundraising assistance, multimedia support, translation, and graphic design.
- Monitor protests, and take photos/videos.
Mission: Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to expose and challenge the injustices of the United States’ immigration detention and deportation system and advocate for profound change that promotes the rights and dignity of all persons.
Website: https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/take-action
Volunteer form: N/A
Email: N/A
Phone: N/A
What volunteers do:
- Support DWN member campaigns or consider organizing an event in your community to raise awareness about the inhumane and unjust immigration detention system.
- Meet with decision makers, Senators, and Representatives.
- Request a detention tour for oversight.
- Use the media to educate your community about what is happening at your local detention center, to recruit more community members to join you, and to put additional pressure on the decision maker(s) you are targeting.
- Visiting someone in detention is an important tool in taking action against immigration detention. A conversation with a detained person can provide support and friendship while deepening your perspective on the realities of the system.
Mission: The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.
Website: https://www.rescue.org/volunteer
Volunteer form: https://rescueglobal.secure.force.com/application/rc_volunteers__ApplicationForm_Designer?id=a3E31000000UEco#!mode=view&form=00P3100000aMKNsEAO&dev=true application/references
Email: N/A
Phone: (301) 562-8633
What volunteers do:
- Mentor refugee families and individuals.
- Assist refugees to develop effective job seeking and interview results.
- ESL tutor training available.
- Advocate for the IRC and refugees.
FYI:
- Background check required ($25 fee).
Mission: Many Languages One Voice empowers limited and non-English proficient communities to equitably access public benefits and services in Washington, DC.
Website: http://www.mlovdc.org/volunteer.html
Volunteer form: N/A
Email: sapna@mlovdc.org
Phone: (202) 838-6568
What volunteers do:
- Translate documents, as well as video and audio testimonies of Limited- and Non-English proficient community members.
- Looking for the following language speakers: Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
FYI:
- Additional opportunities occasionally posted on MLOVE's Idealist webpage: http://www.idealist.org/view/org/Tmc2dPHj4Ncp/
Mission: The mission of No One Left Behind is to help Afghan and Iraqi combat interpreters with Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) resettle safely in the United States. We bridge the gap that exists between current State Department and NGO refugee relief programs, and provide assistance with housing, employment and cultural adaptation. We treat our clients as the heroic veterans they are.
Website: http://nooneleft.org/get-involved/volunteer-2/
Volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DnO4nVP9eKv-PNEjKoa9aAVaf56pcmUjBi3oqdxcS1U/viewform?edit_requested=true
Email (contact form): https://web.charityengine.net/Default.aspx?tsid=4103
Phone: N/A
What volunteers do:
- Provide family mentorship - helping a family write a resume, showing the family around the local area, and otherwise completing everyday tasks like opening a bank account, signing up for library cards, etc. English tutoring also appreciated.
- Collecting furnishings and donations for individual families.
- Finding housing for new arrivals.
- Securing employment opportunities and coaching on job search skills.
- Intake committee/assessing needs.
- Local events/Fundraising