From clothing to insurance: how Sacramento helps new immigrants - ForumDaily
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From clothing to insurance: how Sacramento helps new immigrants

Alexey and Olga could be called a happy and successful family: excellent specialists, parents of two children, they were confident in their future. However, due to political persecution, the couple was forced to leave their homeland. The family applied for political asylum in the United States, and, as is often the case, found themselves in a "suspended" status pending the examination of their case.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

Finding themselves in a foreign country, without work and sufficient knowledge of English, with children in their arms, Olya and Alexey began to attend language courses. The instructor was not too eager to reassure the new students, telling the couple that they'd better forget about their past degrees and get ready to work as janitors in cafes or, if lucky, shop assistants in the future.

Fortunately, the couple learned about the Sacramento Residents Assistance Center, which was opened at the Elica Health Centers network in the capital of California (Community resource center). Employees of the Center do not help with employment, but help newly arrived in the country with paperwork, obtaining insurance, placing children in school and other necessary things that enable people to get on their feet and find their bearings in a new place. Timely help, moral support and knowledge about the real rights and prospects of immigrants did their job: literally within six months after receiving a work permit, Olga found a job in the state bodies of the state of California, and Alexey got a similar position in the district authorities.

"We mainly help Russian speakers"

«The main thing that helped them get a job was the absence of fear and self-confidence., - the director of the Center is sure Julia Gusina. - I remember how we printed out the addresses of the grocery banks for this couple and helped them get their children free insurance. Now their income is quite high, and no longer gives the right to free insurance, but they no longer need it.».

It was Julia who came up with the idea of ​​creating the center. While pursuing educational programs for Russian speakers at Elica, she was faced with a variety of questions from the audience. In the end, Yulia decided to invite the management to create a specialized help center. To her surprise, the idea was approved by the top management of the clinic.

«Elica belongs to the federal medical centers that, in addition to the usual reception of patients, work with the homeless, needy, with people without documents, that is, it already has extensive experience in social work. We found office space in an area where there are many Russian speakers, including schools for the children of Russian-speaking immigrants, where there are language courses, public transport is developed, and social institutions are located nearby", - explains Yulia Gusina.

The Center was created at the beginning of quarantine, and for the first year it worked remotely. Only last May, the Elica Resource Center began to receive its first visitors. According to Yulia, the staff of the center mainly help Russian-speaking people simply because representatives of most other immigrant groups (for example, immigrants from Asian or Latin American countries) have their own similar organizations. However, the Center does not refuse to help other immigrants. All services are provided absolutely free.

What an immigrant is entitled to

First of all, the Center provides background information on various free programs, both social and medical.

«We have memos in Russian, for example, about what documents are needed to enroll a child in school. Not everyone knows that the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento provides free legal assistance to immigrants from any country. We also provide information about all city assistance services, free language courses, help people to correspond with city or federal authorities - including creating an account at Gmail.com if a person has previously used Russian services, often perceived by American filters as spam", - says Yulia.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

The main contingent who are eligible for free social services under California law are people who have applied to the authorities for asylum and are awaiting a decision. Such people, firstly, have the right to give their children a free education. Also, if the family's income is low, the child is entitled to free meals and insurance that covers doctor's visits, medications, dentists, and so on.

«It is very important that people understand that there is no need to be afraid to exercise these rights. California protects children as much as possible, and parents may have problems just if they do not fulfill their duties and do not use the opportunity to educate the child or take him to the doctor.", - Yulia warns.

Unlike children, adults are eligible for free insurance that only covers emergency care. However, in the practice of the Center there was a case when employees were able to find an opportunity for a diabetic visitor to receive full insurance, and before receiving it, they could buy expensive medicines at a minimal price.

Also, adults can use food banks. Yulia emphasizes: The Center does not require any documents from visitors, including checking their income level. However, employees warn that if an immigrant loses the right to receive benefits, but continues to use them, he could face huge fines from the tax authorities.

«We explain to people that it is not profitable for them to conceal their income, first of all, because any immigration judge, when considering a case, may ask: what have you been living on all this time? If, when crossing the border, you did not declare a sufficient amount of money, you will have nothing to answer this question. Therefore, even if you do not yet have a work permit, we recommend that you have an ITIN, show your sources of income and pay taxes on them. We do not provide legal advice, but at the very least we encourage people to consult with their immigration lawyers on this matter. In short, we show people what opportunities exist for honest and legal living in the state.", - explains Julia.

Volunteer work

The Community Resource Center works closely with other centers and can refer people to their specialized professionals - lawyers, employment consultants, and so on. In addition, the Center managed to collect clothes for those in need, most of which were donated by volunteers. Anyone, regardless of their immigration status, can use it.

According to Yulia, it is impossible to completely limit the cases of abuse of help by immigrants, but, contrary to popular stereotypes, they are quite rare. Employees of the Center assure that they are much more often faced with opposite examples, when those who a few months ago applied for free clothes, now themselves, in their cars, bring surpluses to the Center for others in need.

Photo: Ksenia Kirillova

By the way, last year put absolute record the number of Russian-speaking immigrants seeking asylum on the southern border of the United States, and therefore the help of volunteers becomes absolutely necessary. The coordinator of the group for helping political emigrants in Sacramento is actively helping the newly arrived Anna Berbeneva.

«The main thing I do is coordination. I quickly realized that there is a demand among political emigrants for an adaptation group in Sacramento. Then we created a chat where people can share their problems and needs, and get help promptly. We really have a very friendly and responsive diaspora - both ordinary people and churches that also help immigrants. Even if we do not know the answer to a specific request, we try to refer people to specialists, including the resource center at Elik"- says Anna.

Anna also organizes immigrants to write letters to political prisoners in Russia, in a word, she tries to support people who find themselves in a difficult situation on both sides of the ocean.

«I guess I'm doing it simply because I can't help but do it. There are types of social injustice that cannot be ignored. But this is a very rewarding work, because I constantly see that good comes back many times, and the people whom we helped begin to help others", - says Anya.

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