In November, 2015, CoFiA sent out an appeal to our members and friends for additional contributions to help us hire a part-time community organizer. Thanks to the generous response to the appeal, we were able to employ Sayda Tuanama, an experienced organizer, to join us. Her duties involve working with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, (NJAIJ) a state-wide group that is aiming to create state-based policies that will improve the lives of undocumented migrants, in the absence of any movement on federal immigration reform.
Sayda has been hard at work reaching out to the immigrant community in our area, and has received a wonderful response. On Saturday, June 18, 2016, a large group received their CoFiA membership cards and were honored at a dinner at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church.
We are delighted to have this enthusiastic group of new members. They will be working with Sayda, CoFiA, and the members of NJAIJ, to develop strategies to allow migrants to obtain New Jersey Drivers Licenses, and/or municipal or county ID cards, and to improve relations between immigrants and police, and guard against wage theft.
Watch this space for further information about this energetic group, and join us as we participate in various actions in the coming months.