Volunteer for Washington New Americans!

We are looking for immigration attorneys, paralegals and other volunteers to assist with CITIZENSHIP DAY, a partnership between OneAmerica and the Washington State Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).                                       

WHEN: Saturday, April 17, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SITES: Tukwila, Vancouver, Wenatchee, and Yakima

Washington New Americans, a program of OneAmerica, promotes successful integration by connecting Legal Permanent Residents to the information and services they need to successfully pursue citizenship and become active members of our community. Citizenship Days, held in partnership with AILA and community organizations across the state, offer assistance with citizenship applications in 12 cities in Washington State.  Last year, we had over 370 volunteers supporting Citizenship Days and were able to serve 751 individuals at 12 sites across the state! April 17 will be our last Citizenship Day for the fiscal year. Visit our website www.wanewamericans.org for more information.

We need YOU to make our Citizenship Days successful!  

SIGN UP NOW AT  http://wanewamericans.org/volunteer

 MORE INFORMATION ON VOLUNTEER ROLES:

ALL volunteers will be required to attend trainings prior to the day of the event. Training for general support, interpreters, and paralegals will be held on April 6^th from 12 to 1.  Attorney training will take place on April 7^th from 12 to 1. Trainings will be held via conference call or in person.  If you cannot make it in person or call in, a video recording of the training will be available.

Attorneys: Meet one on one with clients to determine eligibility for naturalization, answer questions, review applications for accuracy, provide further instructions for follow up or filing. Attorneys may also review the work of other attorneys during client checkout.  You must be a licensed immigration attorney to fulfill this role.  ALL attorney volunteers must have been in practice for at least 2 years, AND have completed at least five (5) Naturalization applications over the course of those two years.

Paralegals: Meet one on one with clients to help complete naturalization forms.  Paralegals may NOT provide legal advice. This could be a great role for certified paralegals, BIA accredited staff of non-profit organizations, as well as attorneys and law students seeking to gain experience in immigration law.

Interpreters: Interpret verbatim between clients and paralegals or attorneys and other volunteer staff. Ensure that clients and paralegals/attorneys understand each other and contents of all forms, documents needed for naturalization. Interpreters may NOT provide legal advice except as direct translation of advice given by attorney.  Interpreters of all languages are welcome, particularly, those with Spanish, Russian, Somali, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese skills, among other languages.

General Support:  Help as directed by Site Coordinators with set up/take down at facility, signage, client intake, routing of clients through the facility, copying and assembling documents, answering non-legal questions, passing out information documents, help with food and drinks for volunteers.  These volunteers perform the tasks needed to make Citizenship Days successful!