Immigrant Connection wants to help you as you take your first steps or next steps along the journey of learning, connecting, and welcoming.  Fill out the form below to request various Welcome Resources that Immigrant Connection has created or curated.  While there are several types of welcome ministries, Immigrant Connection focuses on the four listed below (in addition to partnering with church-based immigration legal services offices) as we have found these four can be done by all types of churches in all different contexts.  We have experiences that both small and large churches can launch these welcome initiatives and can do so with even limited resources.  Fill out the form below and Immigrant Connection will email you the resource as well as any additional details you may need.

Conversational English:
The goal of this IC Welcome Resource is to build the confidence of non-native English speakers in their speaking, listening, and comprehension abilities as well as to foster connection between native English and non-native English speakers.  This resource is based on utilizing IC’s Conversational English Cards, which are designed to help launch conversations.  There is a broad question at the top with supporting questions underneath if you need help stimulating conversation around that topic. We have 4 levels each with their own deck of conversation cards.  A Conversational English program is easily contextualized to fit your local church and community; it can start as small or as large as you'd like and is usually scheduled for one evening per week for 30-45 minutes.

Family Resource Nights:
Many immigrant parents would like to improve their English proficiency. However, many cultures are unwilling to seek childcare and leave their children with another caregiver in order for the parent to go to ESL classes. Likewise, many immigrant and refugee students have limited or interrupted formal education and need extra academic help outside of normal school hours in order to catch up academically on missed content and foundational core content areas. Family Resource Nights hosted by local churches allow the whole family to come together to a program in which the parents receive experience with conversational English and the
students receive homework help, as well as extra learning related to literacy and math facts.  Immigrant Connection has developed a Toolkit that explains this initiative, how to launch and run an impactful Family Resource Night.

Citizenship Classes:
Of the 13.2 million Lawful Permanent Residents in the United States as of January 2015, 9 million were eligible to naturalize, according to the latest available OIS estimates.  What prevents many eligible immigrants is stress over and fear of the citizenship test.  Immigrant Connection has designed "plug and play" Citizenship Classes that any local church can lead.  We've already designed the curriculum, lesson plans, activities, and presentations.  The whole IC Citizenship Class initiative is available for those who want to launch impactful Citizenship Classes in their community.

Know Your Rights Workshops:  
In the midst of all the misinformation dominating many national conversations around immigration, it is crucial that people know that the US Constitution provides certain rights for everyone, regardless of immigration status. Additionally, there are steps that immigrants can take to decrease their chances of detection, to protect themselves in the event of contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to prepare in the event that a loved one is placed in removal (deportation) proceedings. KYR presentations respond to these threats with education and empowerment.  Immigrant Connection has curated several resources to help local churches host KYR events and create Family Preparedness Planning workshops.

Partnering with a Church-Bases ILS office:
The #1 felt need for immigrants living in the United States is access to immigration legal services.  With over 44.7 million foreign born residents currently living in the United States there is an ever increasing need to provide competent, trustworthy, low-cost immigration legal services in communities across the country.  This need is currently being met by only 13,000 private immigration attorneys and 900 non-profit immigration legal sites.  There is a need to increase this capacity in communities both large and small.  Not every church can nor should launch an immigration legal services office, but many times a church can and should partner with an existing church-based ILS office to offer workshops, host intakes, and provide holistic support to these much needed programs.