2013 Immigrant Leadership Summit in Albany

Dear Members and Friends of the New York Immigration Coalition:

We invite your participation in this year’s NYS Immigrant Leadership Summit in Albany.  As every year, advocacy with New York state government is one of our primary mandates as a statewide coalition. This year, we have scheduled a day of action in Albany for Wednesday, February 27^th, but we wanted to propose a new format for the day, and I will explain why below. (Please note that the date has been changed due to changes in the legislative calendar.)

For immigrant communities, this year promises to be a big one, and we want to be strategic in ways that we mobilize our communities and our leaders.  On the national front, 2013 will be the year to capitalize on the electoral strength of Latino/Asian and other immigrant communities to enact immigration reform.   Many immigrant rights organizations are coming together to plan a massive grassroots mobilizations in Washington, DC and in local states in the spring.  New York should be there in force, and as the coordinating entity for that statewide campaign, we will be asking you to mobilize your members and constituents.

In order to maintain the mobilizing focus on immigration reform in April and May, we wanted to propose making the annual Albany Day into an Immigrant Leadership Summit. This summit would host the leaders of over 100 NYIC member and partner organizations for a day of strategy planning, media briefings, legislative meetings, and conversations with peers from around New York. The day would feature panels with issue experts, elected officials, and advocates, and culminate with individual or group meetings with legislators and executive staff. (The NYIC will schedule a few meetings with top-level administrators and elected officials, any other legislative meetings will be up to your own group to schedule.)

In reconfiguring the day in this manner, we will be able to have strategic political impact needed to press for our Albany Agenda – passing the NYS DREAM Act, fighting for the inclusion of immigrants in the health exchange, advocating for the rights of English Language Learner students, and ensuring that immigrant victims of Superstorm Sandy receive the relief assistance they need regardless of immigration status.   

We ask for a leadership delegation of your organization to participate.  The plan is to bring together over 100 organizations!  Please rsvp using the below form as soon as you can for the NYS Immigrant Leadership Summit in Albany on Wednesday, February 27^th.  If you have any questions, please contact Silvia Gonzales at sgonzales@thenyic.org or (212) 627-2227 ext.  239.  See you in Albany!

Respectfully,

Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition
& the Albany Immigrant Leadership Summit Organizing Team