Success Stories
Last year, the International Institute of the Bay Area served over 10,000 people, as they integrated into their new communities. Each one has a remarkable story to tell, often overcoming obstacles and challenges in order to reach their dreams for themselves and their children. They inspire and motivate us. Names and details have been changed or abbreviated to protect client identities.
"I wanted to be a peer tutor at YouthCares Partners in Learning because I was like them [the Newcomer students]. I know what it is like and I can understand their experiences."
Since immigrating to San Francisco from Moscow in 2006, 17 year old Erna Aramyan has been involved in YouthCares Partners in Learning as a student, an assistant tutor, and a peer tutor. Erna, who speaks both Russian and her family's native language, Armenian, remembers that when she first enrolled as a student at Newcomer High School, she was shy and scared. However, she and her brother Edward quickly formed close friendships with Donald and Ornella Leukou, siblings from Cameroon. The four students became dedicated participants of Partners in Learning's after school program because they wanted to learn new things and improve their English. Even after transferring to Galileo High School the following fall, both Erna and Ornella continued attending PIL to help out and visit the program. Because of their consistency and enthusiasm, the PIL Coordinator made the girls "assistant tutors". Over the course of the semester, Erna and Ornella helped the peer tutors, offered support to the Newcomer students, and continued to improve their own English skills. The next spring, both applied and were hired as paid tutors, providing an inspiring example for the Newcomer students. Erna is an exceptional tutor who takes initiative, forms lasting relationships with the Newcomer students, and always challenges herself to accomplish new goals. Each Thursday, Erna also works at YouthCares Intergenerational's food bank, providing much needed translations for monolingual Russian speaking senior citizens. Working at YouthCares, has encouraged Erna to think about her future career goals. She wants to either be a fashion designer or a nurse and explains "One day, I promised myself that I am going to help children who don't have parents". Erna recommends YouthCares to everyone, saying "Everyone should come try this program. You're all going to like it!"
EM was sexually abused by her stepfather. She felt alone and confused and her grades in high school plummeted. A school friend got her in contact with a sympathetic police officer who told her she could say no. She revealed the abuse, even though it alienated her from her mother. She reported her stepfather to police, but the DA ultimately decided not to prosecute. Her baby was born with huge health problems including leukemia, and she had to scrounge rides to Stanford Medical Center for his treatment. She learned about and came to IIBA's Oakland office. Law student Amy Cucinella, who was volunteering as an IIBA intern, completed an immigration application for "U visa interim relief", allowing EM to stabilize her immigration status while cooperating with law enforcement officials. The immigration application included a personal declaration from EM that reduced Amy to tears. EM won her case and got "deferred action" status and employment authorization. Our office provided legal support and advocacy for her to enroll in community college for pre-nursing school studies. Amy arranged for EM to speak at a large Women and Migration conference at Boalt Hall School of Law, but EM's son had to go to the hospital, so Amy read EM's statement and received a standing ovation. The speech was later published in a law journal. EM's son is slowly recovering. She has reconciled with her mother, who helps with her son. EM has included her mother as the "derivative beneficiary" of her U visa application. In January, 2008, EM appeared before the Oakland City Council to testify in support of a city resolution endorsing U visas for Oakland residents. City Council members were very moved by her strength in her terrible situation, and voted to approve the resolution. After the hearing, EM urged the Lieutenant in charge of the police department's special victim unit to continue with the investigation of her step father so that he'll be prosecuted. Like dozens of our clients, EM has offered to speak about U visas and VAWA any time it's needed.
Rivaldo Zepeda was born in Redwood City in December 2004. His mom, Adelina, is a U.S. Citizen, 22 years old, born in Delaware. Adelina met her husband Marco at a sporting event. They fell in love, and found they had a lot in common. In addition to their love of sports, their independence, and their resourcefulness, both Adelina and Marco are blind. After they were married, Adelina and Marco came to the International Insitute's office in Redwood City, for assistance in applying for Marco's legal permanent residency. Marco's father, also a US Citizen, had previously applied for Marco, but before the petition was approved by the USCIS, the elder Zepeda passed away, leaving Marco in legal limbo. It was not until he fell in love and married a US Citizen that he was able to straighten out his legal status.
Baby Rivaldo faced his own troubles right after his birth. Because his mom requested assistance from the hospital staff - nervous, as many new moms are with infants - social workers threatened to take Baby Rivaldo away from his blind parents. The Zepedas, their friends, and advocates immediately mobilized, and made a strong case for Marco and Adelina's ability to care for their own baby. Their support network checked in on the family on a regular basis, and provided support as needed - as often happens with a newborn.
Marco is now studying to become a massage therapist. Adelina is studying to become a court interpreter. Baby Rivaldo is thriving. A few weeks ago, Jacqueline Raine, Accredited Representative with the International Institute, accompanied Marco to his interview at the USCIS. To their delight, Marco's petition for legal permanent residency was approved on the spot! The International Institute is proud to assist families like this to earn their residency and achieve self-sufficiency, as they continue to contribute back to their community in so many ways.
"International Institute of San Francisco has been a second home for my family and me for more than 30 years now", says Mr. L. "We came to San Francisco a long time ago as refugees from Cambodia. At that time we lost all of our belongings in the war. Since we had to flee as refugees, we were forced to leave everything behind. When we arrived in the U.S., we did not have any money, and could not speak any English. The staff of International Institute helped us to resettle in our new home country; we studied English in the Institute's classrooms; and we got our family reunited with the help of Institute's legal workers. Several years afterwards, we filed our Naturalization applications through the Institute's immigration and citizenship program and were very happy and proud to become US Citizens. The immigration caseworkers also helped me to apply for my wife from overseas, and she recently became a US Citizen also! All of this would be very difficult to achieve without comprehensive services that International Institute provides!"
While attending a Fiesta de la Candelaria celebration at a relative's house, a 22 year-old mother of two children was killed in a drive-by shooting that was apparently targeting someone else. Her husband and his sister ran to her as she died, taking her baby out of her arms. Her shattered husband could only think about taking her to their village in Mexico for burial. The District Attorney's Victim Services office referred him to IIBA, and we told him that as the spouse of a murder victim, he could be eligible for a U visa, which would stabilize his immigration status, if he helps in the investigation of the murder. He was incapable of doing so yet, however. His sister Lourdes accompanied him to our office, and she completely understood the importance of cooperation. She was given guardianship of the murder victim's two daughters, one of whom is undocumented. We determined that if Lourdes can help the investigation on her niece's behalf (in a special U visa provision), her niece can be granted a U visa, and the murder victim's husband can be a derivative beneficiary - getting the U visa in spite of his traumatized state and inability to be helpful. We were so moved by Lourdes's responsibility, intelligence and bravery in the face of now being a single mother with now 6 children to care for. We facilitated her "helpfulness" by helping her contact detectives, expediting consultations with other witnesses of the shooting, and arranging for her to make a plea for assistance on Univision news. We discussed the matter with the Oakland Police Department Lieutenant in charge of U visas, and he said that since Lourdes was nearly hit by bullets herself, she was clearly a victim, and that her cooperation was sufficient that the police department completed and signed a certification of victim helpfulness for her, enabling us to submit a U visa to regularize her legal status, in addition to that of her niece and brother. It is our hope that someone will come forward as a result and that the police department can learn valuable information to solve the crime.
A Tale of Two Marias
Maria Elena Bravo and Maria Rosa Rodriguez are both studying business administration at their local college. Maria Rosa is eagerly developing her resume and preparing to interview at a number of local companies, confident that she will secure an upwardly mobile job when she graduates. Maria Rosa's family is so excited - because Maria Rosa will be the first in the family to graduate from college. Maria Elena is the first in her family to graduate from college, too, but her options upon graduating are considerably bleaker. You see, Maria Elena is not legally authorized to work in the United States, and thus has no prospects for securing gainful employment, despite being a stellar student. She came to the United States with her parents and two older brothers when she was one year old. The family came with visas, but overstayed them. Obviously, when Maria Elena was one year old she did not decide to come to the United States, or to overstay her visa. In fact, it wasn't until she was in high school that Maria Elena grasped the reality of her immigration status, and the consequences that it implied. She had not realized that she would not have the same opportunities that her classmates had --even though she grew up in the United States, considered English to be her first language, graduated from high school with honors, and was considered to be a "young civic leader" by her church.
Maria Rosa, on the other hand, was born in the United States. In fact, Maria Rosa's family has a long history of living and working in the Central Valley of California. The Rodriguez family also has a long history of living and working in the desert regions of southwestern Mexico. For generations, the Rodriguez family migrated between their family home in Michoacan to the fertile valley of what, at the time, was northern Mexico, although since 1848 it has been US territory, part of the State of California. The most recent instance of this family migration happened when Maria Rosa's mother was 8 months pregnant. On that journey, as on those that preceded it, the Rodriguez family crossed the border without any documentation. Maria Rosa was not the first family member born in the United States - according to her grandmother, Maria Rosa's great-grandfather was probably born not far from Maria Rosa's hometown of Salinas. The difference is that while her great-grandfather was born at home and never obtained a U.S. birth certificate, Maria Rosa was born in the hospital, and was registered at birth as a U.S. Citizen. Had she been born a month earlier, or had her mother migrated to the United States a month later, Maria Rosa would be facing the same dreary prospects that Maria Elena is facing. Luckily for Maria Rosa, as a U.S. Citizen she has many more options open before her. She wonders, though, about the logic and the fairness of a system that creates such different realities for young people whose lives are really so similar.