Centro Latino de Salud, Educación y Cultura is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization established to help the immigrant Latino population of mid-Missouri acclimate to their new environment with its different laws, customs and language. Much of the Latino population served by the Centro Latino is comprised of immigrants to the United States. The families and individuals that arrive in this country need information about services available to them. Centro Latino collaborates with government agencies, private groupsnot-for-profit organizations to ensure that members of the Latino population have positive and safe living experiences in the state of Missouri. The goal of Centro Latino is to enable Latino families and individuals to live in an environment of mutual respect with the native non-Latinos of the United States and ensure that members of the Latino population have positive living experiences in the state of Missouri.

From 2000 to 2008 Centro Latino assisted thousands of Latino immigrants by providing the following services:

• Legal counseling referrals: referral to the local bilingual attorney and other counselors.

• Community Service program site for the Municipal, Juvenile and Judicial court of Columbia.

• Translation of legal documents for individuals, law firms, the Prosecutor office and the Public Defender.

• Interpreting for individuals and attorneys.

• Immigration law referrals to local and Kansas City immigration attorneys, Refugee & Immigration Services Jefferson City, Refugee Resettlement Office in Columbia and Legal Aid of Kansas City.

• In 2007 Centro Latino implemented the Legal Access Department and began the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) recognition and accreditation process in order to offer the services of a representative who can help legal residents complete their immigration forms and help Latino families adjust their immigration status.

Legal Access

The Centro Latino has always assisted Latinos in accessing assistance for their legal needs by referring them to proper attorneys and legal counselors depending on their individual cases.

In 2005, the Centro Latino became a community service site for the Boone County Juvenile, Municipal and Judicial courts and the Probation and Parole Department as a location where sentenced individuals have the opportunity to complete their community service hours. Through the Legal Access Program, the Centro Latino serves as a liaison between the various law enforcement agencies and Latino immigrants to bridge the gap of communication and understanding so they are able to better acclimate to their new life and successfully participate in the communities where they live.

NOTE: Because we are not licensed to practice law, we do not give legal advice to our clients.

Immigration

Within the community, we have supported the local Refugee Resettlement Office in Columbia and referred Latino immigrants to their representative Lorna Tran of the Refugee & Immigration Services of Jefferson City to assist them with their immigration issues.

Because we do not perform any legal immigration work or give any legal immigration advice, we refer our clients to local and Kansas City immigration attorneys, Refugee and Immigration Services of Jefferson City and Legal Aid of Kansas City.

In our efforts to properly inform the community of immigration issues, the Centro Latino has held information presentations and sought guidance with Suzanne Gladney, Immigration Attorney and Managing Attorney of Legal Aid of Western Missouri in Kansas City.

Through our identifying the immigration needs of the increasing influx of the Latino immigrant population in Central Missouri and their reliance on the Centro Latino to meet these needs, we have begun the process of becoming recognized as a Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA) agency site and having a BIA accredited representative to help our clients and manage our new Immigration Services Program.

In order to focus on meeting the increasing legal and immigration needs of the Latino immigrant population, Carrie Tyler, Legal Access Program Coordinator who joined the Centro Latino as a volunteer in 2007 and who implemented the Legal Access Program, is in the process of establishing our Immigration Services Program. In order to accomplish this she is preparing the Centro Latino for the BIA recognition and taking the required steps and training to become the Centro Latino's BIA accredited representative which will be completed this Summer.

Once the Centro Latino has acquired BIA recognition, through the work of our accredited representative, we will not only identify individuals and families eligible to become citizens and adjust status, but will be able to assist them with their immigration cases on a case management basis in the following ways:

• Counsel immigration clients;

• Complete immigration forms;

• Represent clients before the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS);

• Complete CIS forms;

• Accompany clients to CIS interviews.

NOTE: Until we are BIA recognized and accredited, we do not handle immigration cases
for our clients nor do we give them immigration advice.

Legal & Immigration Assistance Information

Legal

Immigration