 Welcome back. We're here in the studio again at Davis Media Access and we're talking today with members of board members of the YOLO Interfaith Immigration Network, also known as YIN. My name is Autumn Lab A. Renaud. I'm your host and to check out this show and other shows and are in the studio archive, give a click on DCTV.Davismedia.org or search for Davis Media Access on YouTube. And I want to welcome Ramon Urbano, who's a past board president of YIN and still actively involved, and Sam Loomis, who is a new board member and chair of the upcoming fundraising event April 10th, and we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. So welcome to you both. You bet. So YIN was formed in 2008, correct? Okay, so immigration is a hot and highly divisive topic in our nation, unfortunately, and I see YIN as doing work to bring people together and to really help people out. An organization that I think is rooted in compassion. So tell us a little bit about how and why you came together in 2008 and then let's talk about some of the work you're continuing to do today. Sure. Yeah, actually it was started in 2008. We still have some of the folks that started YIN on our board, honorary board. I discovered them maybe about six years ago. I retired, came back to Woodland, and I wanted to help people that look like me. And so I just by chance saw this in the newspaper and I joined them. I think it's all said in our mission statement, which we try to keep very simple. Our mission is, you know, to help immigrants in Yolo County. And we're a group of people, actually. Although interfaith is in that word, it's not a church kind of folk. We just have people from different denominations in our group. And I think what started it, it was just a passion for helping people who have no voice. At that time, it wasn't as bad as it is now. It was just, you know, we had farm workers. We had all kinds of people that were here. But now, of course, the dynamic has changed and certainly much more of what we need to be doing. Sure. So anyway, my passion was doing that and I wound up with some really fantastic people who have a passion for this kind of work, who have done other things. They do many other things also in the community, but their passion is this and they're willing to contribute and to help connect with some of the groups that they work with. So it makes it a pretty powerful kind of small, but pretty potent group. Right. Well, let's talk about some of the current projects that Yen is working on. And Sam, please feel free to jump in on this, too. I would say the traditional ones is that we do give enrichment programs to the migrant centers in Yolo County. That's in Madison and in Davis. We also give a little bit of help to Dixon, but that's in Solano, so we don't get too involved with them. We also visit the OR kids that are at Juvenile Hall. That's the Office of Refugee Resettlement. They have them detained there or locked up, really, is what it is. And so some of our group go every Monday to talk to the kids, to play games. We have music brought in for them. So that's another big thing, which has recently been quite controversial. And I really, I think that we always try to push forward that we certainly do not like to see these children locked up, certainly. But having them here, at least we can have oversight and watch them and help them in whatever we can, they do get psychiatric help. They do get classes by the Yolo County Education. So those are the couple of things that are traditional. The other one traditional is our DACA program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. And that is that we give money for them to apply for those, for that status, which is really having a difficult time. It's expensive, right? 495 dollars a piece. And so what we do is we work, and I should have said also that we work with many other agencies and departments. We work with the UCD Immigration Law Clinic. We work with the UCD AB540, Empower Yolo, Catholic Charities, the Catholic Church in Woodland. And so through them, we get the referrals because we do not want to be vetting these students basically. Plus, it's very important that it's done right, because if we do it wrong, it could come back in their face. And so usually people will vet them, they'll fill out the forms, they tell us, you know, this is a student, we send them a check. And that check is made to Homeland Security, so there is no other people involved. It goes through Homeland Security. We also give grocery certificates to students and those who need, you know, some help in that regard. Lately, because of the DACA interest going down, we have gone to other avenues. And a couple of novel ones, but I'll start with some that come up from time to time, and that is we're trying to help people to improve their immigration status. So sometimes we need to help them, give them money. Let me interrupt. What does that mean, improve one's immigration status? Well, for example, there's some people who have all the documents, but who have not applied for citizenship. And that would be certainly, that would be the grand prize to do it also to get their green card. And so we do help them do that also. That requires, you know, legal assistance, so that's a little costly. Also for medical, we do have one case where a woman was able to help her children, but the children were Honduras. And so we paid for the tickets for the kids to come up so that she can do the process and go forward. So what I'm extracting from everything you just said is that immigration is a very complicated process. And we're dealing with folks who, you know, if you are a citizen, there is somewhat of a safety net. There is Medicare, Medi-Cal, there is Social Security, there, you know, disability and things like that. But if you're an immigrant, you don't have access to all of that. So there's a continuum of providers and organizations who are stepping in to advise on legal to help with basic costs like gas and food and pots and pans and things like that. And legally, there's a lot of safety nets missing too. So for instance, and correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding is that a lot of the juveniles here don't necessarily because they don't have legal citizenship status, don't have guaranteed representation when they want to seek asylum. But they also can't represent themselves in court because they're juveniles. So trying to make sure that they have access to legal representation is one of UN's goals as well. So they can get really lost in the system. Oh yeah. They're out there with nothing to protect them. Matter of fact, we just had our first DACA application interest a couple of days ago, which we had one and I won't say months. And again, that's deferred action, childhood arrivals. So that's someone who came to this country as a child? As a child. We're usually accompanied by, you know, accompanying their parents. Right. And they're here and they have no citizen. They have no status at all. You know, so that gives them a pass in that it protects them from deportation. Yeah. It gives them a driver's license, which now they can get anyhow, but a workers permit also. So that's really very valuable. It's a protection for that child from anything that might happen as far as deportation, ice and those kinds of things. Sure. And if you don't have that, well, you're out of it. Recently, a couple of specialty things that I was going to say, and we had mentioned it. And this was with the fires that we had in Napa Valley a couple of years ago or a year ago. There's a couple of organizations over there that we found. And again, it's not Yolo County. So we kind of fudged a little bit on our mission. We all live in this valley though, right? Yeah, exactly. We're all friends. Yeah. But there's two groups over there and we talked to them and we gave them grocery certificates. Some of those people are mostly workers that are in the vineyards. And so we gave them some grocery certificates that helped them. Many had lost, you know, their food or lost their place where they were living. And just recently, because of the campfire, fires that we had up north and paradise and paradise, a couple of people came down and it was it was possible to have them housed in the Davis migrant center. And so what the ends part has been to supply them with their basic needs, you know, sheets, some clothing, pots, pans, what we were talking about. And so that's one of the things that endears me to Yen. Certainly we have a mission and we try to accomplish that mission. But every once in a while, we kind of kind of have a divergent kind of thing. And if not us who, you know, and so that's really good. But we're really very lucky to have the people that we have on the board. I think a lot of nonprofits have to be somewhat flexible, especially these days and kind of help or help is needed. And again, that comes back to being rooted in in compassion, having a mission of compassion connections, you know, you know, who over here, not that makes it any more important than anybody. If you have an issue in, for example, legal services, we can give you that, but we can refer you to the immigration law clinic or was the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. Right. And so we can advise them to go that way. So that really helps. So Sam, congratulations, you're a new board member, and you're chairing the fundraiser. Oh, yeah, it's a exciting job. And it's one that I think is really, really important at this point of juncture for Yen. Because theme you hit on earlier was the fact that this stuff is expensive, trying to provide people with these safety nets and trying to help them through the legal process. So what we're doing with this fundraising dinner is providing a way for the community to all come together and kind of mutually aid each other in trying to help these people because we don't ever want to be in a situation where we have to decide who we can afford to help or not help. Yeah, that can't feel good. So let's talk about time and place and where people can get more info and tell us more about the event. Well, the dinner is going to be on April 10th at the Veterans Memorial Center. We have a website, yinyolo.org where you can go to learn more about getting tickets. Our speaker is really great, Eliana Kamowitz is a lawyer for California Change Legal Fellows. And she has spent her lifetime advocating for immigrants. And recently, as part of her fellowship, she even worked in the governor's office helping to advise on immigration policy. So she knows a lot about this issue and she's going to be giving a good overview of it at the dinner. Okay, so we'll hear from her. And then what else typically happens at your fundraising events? Oh, so we'll have lots of really good food. We'll have a music from Miragacha Puente. We have a silent auction, which is going to be really fun and drinks and wine provided by local breweries. Great. So I asked Ramon this earlier, but what drew you to this work, this work that yin is doing? For me it was being a student and I'd been involved in nonprofits before, largely through. There's a lot of ways, often for undergrads to get involved in things going on. But when you're a graduate student, you kind of just end up in your own little personal bubble, worrying about your own issues. And you follow the news and you see all the things going on. And there were a lot of stories that were bothering me and stressing me. And I realized at some point I just had to find a way to be involved. And after just Googling around, I very quickly found out about yin, went to their board meeting and was just really impressed being there. I've been to a lot of nonprofits and seen lots of different things, had different experiences. But I don't think I've ever really seen anything quite like yin, where it's just members of the community just kind of pulling through this together. There's nothing special, no reason why it had to be these people doing it, but they're doing it. And I think that's really awesome. Because they care. So we have just a minute or two left. Anything else you want to add? I was thinking, are your meetings open to the public? If someone wants to get involved with you, how would they find out more? Absolutely. We meet the second Wednesday very month. We start at seven. Here in Davis, we meet at the friend's house right down the street here. And we try to have one meeting in Woodland once a quarter and we meet at St. Luke's in Woodland. So certainly anybody is welcome to come in. Our agenda is usually full. And if there's somebody who wants to do some kind of presentation or something of that nature, you know, something that's certainly directed to our immigration mission, that they just send David Lichtenhan, who is now the current president, send him what you want to talk about. And we'll try to fit it in our agenda. And it's always a good outreach to for this people. Well, appreciate you both coming in today and talking about the work that you're doing with yin. And I learned a great deal and I hope others will too. And I'll see you at the fundraising dinner. Well, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for having us. And thank you for tuning in once again in the studio here at Davis Media Access. And we'll see you next time.