Home

Project

Immigration Bond Fund

Tagged:  

SCSJ has partnered with the National Immigration Bond Fund to provide legal and bond assistance to persons arrested by local authorities and detained for removal proceedings.

The purpose of the partnership is to:

  • Educate the public about the importance of getting out of immigration detention and obtaining an attorney to have a fair hearing
  • Call attention to the problems of local enforcement of immigration law
  • Provide bond assistance to individuals who cannot otherwise afford to pay an immigration bond

When immigrants are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), they must post bond immediately to establish immigration court jurisdiction in the district where they were arrested--if not, they may be rapidly transfered far from their families. Many who cannot afford bond are placed in accelerated deportation proceedings with little opportunity to attain legal counsel or spend time with their families, and may be penalized by judges.

SCSJ recognizes how critical posting bond can be in order to secure a prompt and fair hearing, as well as how traumatic detention and family separation can be for immigrants. We also know that immigrants often face financial barriers to posting bond.

Through this partnership, if families can raise 50% of the bond, they can apply to SCSJ for matching funds for the remainder of the bond, which the Bond Fund will supply to SCSJ in the form of a 0% interest loan. The loan is repaid when the case is completed and the bond returned.

If you are interested in more information about the Bond Fund or in applying for the bond fund, please call us or contact Rebecca Fontaine at rebecca@scsj.org.

You can see our Press Release about the partnership here.

Stories and Profiles of some of our Bond Fund Clients

Arnulfo
Edwin
Melvin and Alma
Samuel

Partition Bill Advocacy

Tagged:  

SCSJ advocated forcefully at the North Carolina legislature in the summer of 2009 for legislative reforms to improve the ability of families that hold heirs property to retain control of their land. We succeeded in improving procedural fairness in partition sales by increasing the time for respondents to respond to a petition for partition, assigning representatives to protect the interests of unknown or unavailable heirs, and underlining the availability of mediation in partition actions.

Healthcare Stories

Tagged:  
SCSJ partnered with NC Healthcare for America Now to produce 5 interviews with people from North Carolina about their experiences with the U.S. healthcare system. The interviews are below and available on NC HCAN's Youtube channel.










University Apartments

Tagged:  


SCSJ is representing the University Apartments Residents Association in their efforts to stop the gentrification of their historic, 71 year old apartment complex in Durham’s West End on West Chapel Hill Street. In late May, University Apartments was bought by Capstone Companies, an Alabama-based developer which specializes in “student housing development." Many families, older community members, and long-term residents call University Apartments home. The building is renowned for its character, with its high ceilings, radiators, a community garden, a compost center, and large French windows. Residents see the acquisition of University Apartments by Capstone as a potential threat to their safety and security, and with already rising rents current residents may be forced to move.

Census Mini-Grants

Tagged:  

SCSJ is opening up a second round of small grants for organizations to support outreach efforts for the 2010 Census.

Eligible organizations are located in our five target states of Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, and work with our target populations including low-income people, people of color, tenants, migrant workers, homeless, and others at risk of undercount.

The final deadline for these grant applications is Tuesday, February 16, 2010, by 5pm. Due to this short time frame, SCSJ will not be reviewing applications on a rolling basis, like we did in our first round of applications. Groups will be notified of grant decisions by February 22.

Click Here to Apply!

-------------------------------------------

UPDATE: We would now like to invite groups in our target states to apply for grants of up to $3,000 (as opposed to our initial request of $2,000). This news comes as we have learned that we will most likely receive more funding for the mini-grant program in the coming weeks. If you have already applied for round two and would like to update your request to $3,000, I will be contacting you in the coming days with more details.

------------------------------------------

UPDATE: Due to Monday, February 16 being a federal holiday, we have moved the deadline to the application back one day to Tuesday the 17th, by 5pm.

Census Outreach Project

Tagged:  
QUICK LINKS
WHY DOES THE CENSUS MATTER?

Census counts are directly tied to the federal dollars communities receive for important services, such as education funding, affordable housing support, job training, social services, roads, bridges, and other community development opportunities.

Census counts also directly impact a community’s political voice because the numbers inform voting districts and determine how communities are represented. That’s why it is important to make sure that everyone is counted! History has taught us that many communities are undercounted, or are at higher risk of not being counted at all. These communities include:
  • People and families that live in rental property
  • Transient communities, such as the homeless and migrant workers
  • Native Americans and poor, rural communities
  • Immigrants (census counts are for everyone, regardless of citizenship status)
  • The elderly and people who live in group housing
We are contacting organizations in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana that are a trusted voice in their communities. In the 2000 census, these states had the highest rate of undercount in the South. We are hoping that you will work with us to help ensure that EVERYONE is counted in the 2010 census.

What you can do:
  1. Schedule 10 minutes to take an organizational phone survey with an SCSJ organizer.
  2. Sign up for our Census 2010 newsletter.
  3. Become an official Partner Organization with the US Census Bureau .
  4. Join or help form a local Complete Count Committee.
  5. This fall, attend one of our regional meetings for grassroots, policy, and service organizations to discuss strategies and tactics for reducing Census undercount in our communities (Advance RSVP page coming soon!).
  6. Apply for a Mini Grant from SCSJ to do community organizing and creative media outreach to ensure a full count in communities who are at risk of being undercounted (Application available soon!).
Join Us Today!

Heirs' Property Retention Coalition

Tagged:  

Visit the Heirs' Property Retention Coalition online here - http://www.southerncoalition.org/hprc

New Hill Sewage Treatment Plant

Tagged:  

** UPDATE 2/12/10: SCSJ releases its response to the Army Corps of Engineers Final Environmental Impact Study **

New Hill is a small unincorporated community in Wake County, NC. In October 2004, New Hill was selected by Western Wake Partners, a partnership between the governments of Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, and Morrisville, as the site where a new sewage treatment plant would be located.

There are clear environmental injustices in this case. The population surrounding the site is upwards of 75% ethnic/racial minorities. Ironically, the community does not currently have access to sewer services, and only the property that is directly adjacent to the plant would be connected to it. The community has also been targeted for negative environmental impacts before - the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, one of only three in the state, is also located there. The towns represented in Western Wake Partners are all far from the borders of New Hill and their populations include a much lower percentage of ethnic/racial minorities of about 19% on average.

The New Hill Community Association has been fighting this plan for several years and is now represented by SCSJ. We will be holding community meetings and pursuing legal strategies as the case goes forward.

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION TO SUPPORT THE NEW HILL COMMUNITY AND END THIS CASE OF ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Create the Change

Tagged:  

WE ARE THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

Check out the Create the Change Blog at http://ctcdurham.blogspot.com!

This past election we have seen how ordinary people changed the political climate extraordinarily on the national level - but more importantly here in NC. Everyday folks knocked on doors, rang door bells, and talked to strangers about CHANGE!

The grassroots model of canvassing was taken to a new level with incredible results. We must continue to engage in effective democracy as we seek to create change in Durham, North Carolina.

As we face a deepening economic crisis, we all confront similar issues. We know that can’t solve them alone. Collectively we have more strength and a louder voice to speak truth to power.

Now is the time to go beyond the ballot box. It’s time to return to the streets – knocking on doors, ringing doorbells, and engaging unfamiliar faces in the issues that matter.

Fredrick Douglass out of strong conviction said, “I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” Many of us have been praying for day when would see better, healthier, and fairer Durham, NC. Now, together, let’s walk the road to making it a reality.

Believing that democratic participation involves more than casting a ballot, we want to find meaningful opportunities for continued local activism with everyone who recently has been engaged and inspired to take part in political activity.

To facilitate organizing we are creating a directory & Guide to Change in Durham, which highlights the community-based groups, advocacy, and policy organizations that are engaged in ongoing work.

Through online tools and old-fashioned door knocking, we are using the Create the Change Survey as a participatory tool to identify areas of common concern - and then connect people with resources and with each other – in order to leverage our collective ability to create change.

Ultimately we will sustain high levels of civic participation by previously disengaged and disenfranchised citizens by finding new and creative ways for people to have a meaningful impact on issues that matter most to them.

Sidberry Family

Tagged:  

Sidberry Family, New Hanover County File No. 03 SP 0726

Two of 19 Sidberry heirs filed a partition action relating to property that had been in their family since 1871. The property consisted of 8.8 acres in Wilmington, New Hanover County near Market Street. It was described as “virtually undeveloped land in an area that has been developed for both commercial and residential purposes” in the pleadings. A 1911 will devised the property to the Sidberry and the Wallace children. However, the Wallace children have not been heard of since 1911. Nevertheless, through the partition action the property was sold for $495,000 and $254,652.47 was placed in a trust account with the clerk of court for the unknown heirs of the Wallace children. Before the remaining funds were distributed among the Sidberry heirs, who have been taking care of the property for the last 90 years, $21,546 was given to the attorneys, $3,000 to the commissioner, and $49,500 for real estate commission. The Sidberrys originally sought to clarify that one of them could place a trailer on the property. Today they believe they have been dispossessed of their rightful inheritance and have retained counsel to seek to recover the amount placed in trust for the unknown heirs.

Syndicate content