This month, PICC is celebrating our young members who are graduating from high school this year. We know that graduation is a significant milestone in life, and we are so inspired by our youth for their brilliance, resilience, and power. Join us in celebrating their hard work and accomplishments!

While we keep our communities safe by maintaining physical distancing and staying home, we can also keep our communities safe by taking action!

Tell the US Senate to vote for the HEROES Act: Congress is contributing to this public health crisis by excluding immigrant families from COVID-19 relief programs. The HEROES Act in the House is a first step toward what immigrant communities need in this moment of crisis. Call your Senators and tell them we need to pass legislation that includes everyone - because #WeAreEssential. This means:
-- Direct Economic Stimulus to All Workers, Including ITIN Filers, Mixed-Status
Families, and Dependents
-- Expand Access to Testing and Treatment for COVID-19 Under Medicaid to All
People, Regardless of Immigration Status
-- Expand Eligibility to Unemployment Insurance for All Workers, Regardless of
Immigration Status
-- Automatically Extend Work Permits and Status for Immigrants with
Employment Authorization
-- Suspend Immigration Enforcement and Release Immigrants from Detention
-- Suspend the Implementation of the Public Charge Rule
Find your Senator - Find your Representative

Pennsylvania: Release Our Families: Across the country, communities are acknowledging the serious health threat which COVID-19 can pose to our communities and making pertinent adjustments. Yet, while major public events and gatherings are being cancelled, schools are being closed, and hundreds of workers are being directed to stay at home, those detained in ICE facilities - as well as our county jails, state and federal prisons are not able to social distance and remain vulnerable to the spread of this deadly virus. Our state must implement a safe and comprehensive plan to release our grandparents, fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters from detention centers where large numbers of our loved ones are held together as they fight their deportations.

Join us every Wednesday at 3pm to call on state and county officials to release everyone in ICE detention.

The 2020 PA is Ready! Grant Application is open and the deadline is coming up THIS FRIDAY, May 22, 2020! 

PA is Ready! provides grants to collaborative work that is rooted in and serving diverse immigrant and refugee communities to make legal and other immigration services accessible; build power, organizational capacity, and the leadership of immigrant community members; and address community-identified needs and root causes in the long term. All work must be based in Pennsylvania and intend to serve residents of Pennsylvania. Please share far and wide to organizations that may be interested in applying.

We encourage everyone to apply! If you have questions about whether or not your proposal fits within the grant guidelines, PICC hosted an informational session last week to present the framework, grantmaking criteria, application expectations, and answer questions about the grantmaking process. Please visit http://paimmigrant.org/ 2020-pair-app/ to see a recording of the presentation. You can also reach out to Kim Dinh if you have any questions.

Final applications are due on May 22, 2020. Please submit final applications via email with the subject line “PA is Ready! Application” to Kim Dinh at: kimdinh@paimmigrant.org.  More information on how to download application materials and submit the application can be found on our website or on the Informational Webinar.

The current crisis magnifies the inequities that immigrant communities in Pennsylvania already experience. While we are fighting to create the long-term change our community needs, we must also take care of people today.

In the first weeks of this pandemic, over 40 organizations across Pennsylvania came together to form the PA Immigrant Relief Fund, a statewide fund that will provide direct emergency assistance to people excluded from federal COVID-19 assistance programs due to their immigration status or the immigration status of a family member and are in need of immediate financial assistance.

In its first round of distribution, the PA Immigrant Relief Fund distributed funds to 30 organizations across the state who are providing $800 cash assistance to 580 individuals statewide.

Donate Today to #ShareYourCheck! Every dollar donated here will be directed to community-based organizations to be distributed as emergency assistance to eligible individuals.

Please Donate to PICC!

PICC depends upon your support. Please donate to PICC today to support our advocacy and organizing work to mobilize the immigrant vote, build immigrant leaders, campaign for pro-immigrant policies at the local, state and federal levels, and support the effective implementation of pro-immigrant public policies.