Co-creating a vibrant and resilient ecosystem where all immigrants, migrants, and refugees belong
In 2013,
local organizations working with immigrant communities came together to address the lack of legal services capacity in the Houston region.Â
These early meetings eventually became the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative (HILSC or the Collaborative). Collaborative allies include non-profit legal services providers, outreach and advocacy organizations, the business community, law school legal clinics, public agencies, and private foundations.
Mission: We are committed to improving the lives of immigrants in Greater Houston by forging a path toward inclusive and equitable support. Our mission is built on four core principles: holistic legal services capacity, equitable access to services, amplified voices, and catalyzed ecosystems.
Using a collaborative approach in decision-making, program design, and implementation, HILSC:
The Collaborative plays a critical role
convening, coordinating, and communicating in the legal services community. Through our work, more immigrants are receiving low-cost, high-quality legal services for immigration issues in Houston. Our work has become even more urgent in the last few years, as the policy environment in which we work becomes increasingly hostile to immigrants. We have seen a dramatic increase in the demand for immigration legal services and education & outreach efforts in Houston’s diverse immigrant communities.
HILSC timeline.
/2013-2016
1st Season
COLLABORATION & TRUST BUILDING
- 15 grants given totaling $760,000
- Delivering on the Dream
- Notario Fraud Working Group
/2017-2019
2nd Season
MOBILIZING & FUNDRAISING
- 45 grants given totaling $3,373,443
- 7 new programs
- Immigrant Rights Hotline
- Deportation Defense Houston
- Forensic Evaluations
- Storytelling Project
- Immigrant Disaster Equity
- AccessHOU
- Immigrant Accessibility Index
- 4 working groups
- Crime Victims
- Asylum
- Detention
- Access to Services
/2020-2022
3rd Season
ADVOCACY & LOCAL POLICY MAKING
- 81 grants given totaling $2,719,461
- 9 new programs
- Connect for Healthcare
- Thaw the Chilling Effects
- Houston Welcoming Table
- Texas Afghan Legal Assistance Collaborative
- 40 Days of Wellness
- Strategic Learning
- Language Justice
- DACA Application Assistance
- Immigration Legal Services Fund & SSIL
- 3 new working groups
- Immigrant Disaster Equity
- Impact Litigation
- Family-based
/2023-
The Next Season
HILSC AT 10 YEARS
- HILSC gets independent 501(c)(3) status
- Programs
- Give Citizenship a Boost
- Co-creating Holisitc Immigrant Services
- Friend of Court
- Public-Private Partnership/EJW Fellowships
- Leadership Circle
- Universal Intake Pilot
COLLABORATION & TRUST BUILDING
Local organizations and funders came together to form HILSC to address the lack of immigration legal services capacity in Greater Houston amidst record high deportations and implementation of DACA
Help us fortify the ecosystem to assist immigrants
in greater Houston.
Support co-creating a vibrant and resilient ecosystem where all immigrants, migrants, and refugees belong.
Holistic Legal
Services Capacity
Augment the capacity of immigration legal services providers to take an interdisciplinary approach in serving Greater Houston's diverse and growing immigrant population
Equitable
Access to Services
Advocate for efficient and equitable access to holistic legal and social services for all immigrants
Amplified
Voices
Increase awareness and understanding of immigrant needs and perspectives by providing a platform to elevate their voices and those of organizations working with them
Catalyzed
Ecosystem
Foster and facilitate a collaborative ecosystem of legal and social service providers, funders, and elected officials to benefit immigrants in the Greater Houston region
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