The Sonoma Secure Families Collaborative, a string of nonprofit organizations in Sonoma County, has been granted upwards of $550,000 in support of its 2019 aim to establish low-cost legal services for immigrant communities throughout the county that face the looming dangers of deportation. 

The grant arrives at the efforts of the Sonoma County Secure Families Fund, brought about by the Community Foundation of Sonoma County. The Fund was formulated two years prior with the goal of raising $2 million for cost-friendly, high-quality immigration legal assistance over the next few years, according to Briana Khan of the County Administrator’s Office. 

The Secure Families Collaborative is encompassed by the unified activity of local Catholic Charities, the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at USF, Legal Aid of Sonoma County, and Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy and Services (VIDAS).

The nonprofit organizations’ award comes about as a result of their first year of service. 

“We are proud to be part of this collaborative to provide the much needed help our undocumented families seek right now,” Margaret Flores McCabe, VIDAS Executive Director, told the County Administrator’s Office.

McCabe further divulged that the organizations’ opportunity withholds financial power to improve the lives of local, working immigrants that live in Sonoma County — who also, in large part, “enhance the culture.” 

So far, three immigration attorneys and one experienced paralegal are utilized by The Collaborative to supply unpaid deportation defense services. In coordination with such efforts, The Collaborative withholds plans to raise $1.2 million over the next two years. 

While Sonoma County is home to roughly 35,000 undocumented immigrants, David Rabbitt, Chairman of the County’s Board of Supervisors, highlighted the uncertainty swirling among local immigrant families.

“They live daily in fear of being separated from their families,” Rabbitt told the County Administrator’s Office, “It is crucial that every resident of Sonoma County has an opportunity to access legal aid so as not to break up families.” 

VIDAS, established in 2014 by Legal Director, Richard Coshnear, alongside its mission as a non-profit immigration law office, is also beginning its partnership with Santa Rosa Junior College and its on-site Dream Center on Feb. 21. 

Alma J. Valverde, Dream Center Coordinator, underscores that SRJC’s collaboration with VIDAS — recently accredited by the Office of Legal Access programs — will showcase the same legal support VIDAS currently funnels into The Secure Families Collaborative.  

 By “supporting [undocumented students] through the unique challenges they face in higher education,” a sentiment mirrored in the non-profit National Academic Advising Association’s mission statement, SRJC believes the partnership will also solidify itself as a cornerstone for high-quality Dream Center practices — an area it already leads throughout the country, according to Valverde. 

 “Over the years, VIDAS has built a strong relationship of trust with the undocumented students at the Santa Rosa Junior College,” Valverde added in a recent campus press release. Both sides are eager to initiate their shared perception of what will be “a unique and vital partnership.”

Though The Collaborative already celebrated its commencement at an event last week in Santa Rosa, the Dream Center is holding an upcoming, grand re-opening on Thursday at its new Santa Rosa campus location.

 Both The Collaborative and the Dream Center are aiding the fight and finding purpose among numerous efforts and organizations across California to improve the lives of undocumented immigrants alike.