FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2014
Contact: Kavita Khandekar Chopra, Marketing & Development Director
214-273-4334
kkhandekar@hrionline.org
TEXAS BAR FOUNDATION FUNDS HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE IN DALLAS
The Texas Bar Foundation has approved a generous grant of $19,500 to Human Rights Initiative of North Texas to fund their Immigrant Children’s Project.
The Texas Bar Foundation has supported the work of HRI since the inception of the agency more than twelve years ago. TBF was one of the first foundations to support HRI’s legal programs and has consistently supported HRI’s legal outreach to poor communities, training programs for HRI’s pool of pro bono lawyers, DVD programs for HRI volunteer attorney trainings and community outreach, case management software, a bilingual legal assistant and HRI’s Human Rights Curriculum. This year, they have also chosen to support our extension of services to unaccompanied Central American minors
The Immigrant Children’s Project has been a part of Human Rights Initiative for nearly ten years. The Project is a part of the Women & Children’s Program and exists to serve young migrants who qualify for various forms of relief. Typically, a child in this project would qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which is designated for a child who has been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents. SIJS allows a young child to stay safely and legally in the United States and eventually apply for their Greencard, making them a Legal Permanent Resident. In the last year, HRI has expanded our services to offer legal screenings and Know Your Rights Presentations to unaccompanied minors in local shelters. With support from Texas Bar Foundation, Human Rights Initiative was able to hire an additional attorney to represent more children fleeing Central America in Dallas Immigration Court.
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas was founded in 1999 to promote international human rights for immigrants who have suffered human rights abuses. Funded solely by community gifts, private donations and foundation grants, HRI provides free legal services to people have suffered tremendous persecution and torture in their native lands for exercising the very freedoms that we take for granted: freedom of speech, of religious practice, of political belief, or of gender roles.
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $15 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably-funded bar foundation.
For more information about Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc. visit www.hrionline.org/about-hri.
For more information about the Texas Bar Foundation, visit www.txbf.org.
