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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FUNDS PARTNERSHIPS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Eleven nonprofit organizations directly serving 14 states and the District of Columbia will receive nearly $800,000 to conduct public education programs for workers and employers about immigration-related job discrimination, the Justice Department announced today.

The grants are awarded by the Department's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC),the only federal government office solely devoted to enforcing protections against citizenship status, national origin discrimination and document abuse in hiring and firing. "We're excited because these partnerships help us educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities under the immigration laws," said John Trasviña, Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. "OSC and our partners educate employers in order to prevent discrimination. We educate workers to protect them against discrimination."

Immigration related job discrimination may occur when employers ask some, but not all, employees for verification of work eligibility or treat workers differently because of appearance, language or accent.

Recipients of the grants, ranging from $41,785 to $95,709, will assist discrimination victims; conduct seminars for workers, employers and immigration service providers; distribute educational materials in various languages and publicize information in local communities and media.

OSC grant recipients are:

• Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC) based in Los Angeles, and in partnership with Asian Law Caucus (ALC) of San Francisco who will educate workers and employers in two of the nation's largest Asian American communities;

• Asian Human Services of Chicago who will assist immigrants and refugees from Korea, Ethiopia, Somalia, China, Russia, South Asia and the Middle East;

• Catholic Charities of Dallas who will serve workers and employers in northern Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma;

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)who will provide services to employers and immigrant communities in Southern California;

• Erie Neighborhood House of Chicago, who with the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Workers Issues and Korean American Community Services, will reach out to Hispanic workers, Asian employers and Chicago religious communities.

• Mexican American Grocers Association (MAGA), based in Los Angeles, who will train its membership of 5,000 grocery store owners in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York and Texas and reach up to 9 million consumers;

• National Immigration Law Center (NILC), based in Los Angeles, who will carry out a national program to educate immigration service providers;

• New York Association for New Americans (NYANA), who will provide multilingual services to immigrants, refugees and asylees from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, Ghana, Poland, Hungary, the former Soviet Union, Syria, Tibet, Uganda and Vietnam throughout New York City and surrounding boroughs and will also train employers;

• Northwest Immigrant Rights Project of Seattle, who will educate workers and employers in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington;

• United Farm Workers of America (UFW), who will provide education to farm workers throughout California's San Joaquin Valley as well as to Hispanic business owners;

• United Food & Commercial Workers International Union(UFCW), based in Washington, D.C., who will educate workers in the meat packing, food processing and poultry industries primarily in Midwestern and Southern states.

For more information about protections against job discrimination under the

immigration laws, call toll-free 1-800-255-7688, or 202-616-5594 or write to:

Office of Special Counsel for Immigration

Email: osc.crt@usdoj.gov www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc

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