Serving Immigrants and Immigrant Families in New York
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Over the last several years, local communities throughout the United States have prioritized initiatives to regularize the lives of persons in need of protection, including families with members that lack immigration status. In the New York metropolitan area, public and private entities have devoted extensive resources to a coordinated legal and resettlement response to unaccompanied children and families who have fled violence and privation in Central America and Mexico. They have also mobilized in response to the Deferred Acton for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for unauthorized persons who entered the United States as children. In recent weeks, they have planned for the massive executive action program announced by President Obama on November 20, 2014. The two most prominent executive action programs, which have been temporarily stalled by a federal lawsuit, would expand the DACA program and extend a reprieve from removal and work authorization to the unauthorized parents of US citizens and lawful permanent residents through the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA). These programs, combined with additional executive action initiatives, services to other special populations, and a high volume of day-to-day work, create immense service delivery challenges, as well as opportunities, for immigrant-service agencies and other stakeholders.
This event explored the evolving response of public, private, and non-profit entities to address challenges and needs presented by immigrants and immigrant families in the New York metropolitan area. It sought to place these challenges in a broader policy, moral and demographic context; describe coordinated responses to select immigrant populations in the New York metropolitan area; and identify lessons, successes and continued challenges in responding to these populations and to immigrant families more broadly.
Agenda
WELCOME
Beatrice Diaz Taveras
Executive Director, Catholic Charities Community Services
Laura Garcia
Racial Justice Program Coordinator, YWCA Orange County, New York
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio
Bishop of Brooklyn
Most Rev. William Murphy
Bishop of Rockville Centre
SESSION I | GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
Session I will examine federal, New York State and New York City planning on executive action, implementation of New York City’s municipal identification card program, “IDNYC,” and other pressing immigrant service-delivery challenges, including services to unaccompanied minors and families, and evolving responses to combat fraud against immigrants.
Moderator
Msgr. Kevin Sullivan
Executive Director
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Speakers
Phyllis Coven
Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services New York City District Office
Nisha Agarwal
Commissioner
New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Jorge Montalvo
Director
New York State Office for New Americans
Hon. Robert D. Weisel
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Office of the Chief Immigration Judge
United States Department of Justice
SESSION II | NATIONAL COORDINATION, SUPPORT, AND RESEARCH
Session II will offer a short discussion on the work of national organizations in assisting local communities in implementing programs for immigrants. In particular, it will describe the work of the Committee on Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI), as well as past and planned research on the unauthorized, DACA recipients, and other affected populations.
Moderator
Donald Kerwin
Executive Director
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Speakers
Michelle Sardone
Coordinator
Committee on Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI)
SESSION III | COORDINATED LEGAL RESPONSE
Session III will explore past, present, and developing legal services mobilization efforts by local service providers in New York City, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley. The session will particularly focus on collaborative programs, outreach, public education on benefit eligibility and the risk of fraud, and provision of legal screening, representation and advocacy. It will identify lessons from the experience of serving unaccompanied minors that can be applied more broadly.
Moderator
C. Mario Russell
Director of the Immigrant & Refugee Services Division,
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Speakers
Jojo Annobil
Attorney-in-Charge of Immigration Law Unit
Legal Aid Society
Anne Erickson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Empire Justice Center
Jennifer C. Friedman
Executive Director, Pace Community Law Practice
Director, Public Interest Law Center
Pace Law School
Patrick Young
Program Director
Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN-NY)
SESSION IV | COORDINATION OF NON-TRADITIONAL ACTORS
Session IV will address the crucial role of non-legal institutions, with a particular focus on Catholic parishes, in ensuring the successful implementation of programs that benefit immigrants, including executive action initiatives.
Moderator
Carmen Maquilon
Director, Catholic Charities Immigrant Services
Diocese of Rockville Centre
Speakers
Fr. Eric Cruz
Regional Coordinator
Catholic Charities, Bronx, New York
Jan Jamroz
Director of Parish Social Ministry
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockville Centre
Rev. Patrick J. Keating
Chief Executive Officer
Catholic Migration Services
Shannon Kelly
Associate Director, Hudson Valley Services, Catholic Charities Community Services
Archdiocese of New York
Most Rev. Nelson J. Pérez
Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for the Eastern Vicariate
Diocese of Rockville Centre
ROUNDTABLE IN SHEEN CENTER LORETO THEATRE
After the formal event, a facilitated open session will be held to provide participants with an opportunity to share and coordinate best practices and approaches to serving and empowering New York’s immigrant population, specifically with a focus on increasing and coordinating outreach, community involvement, and volunteer support for immigrants potentially benefiting from large-scale relief initiatives.
Facilitator
Camille Mackler
Director of Legal Initiatives
New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)
Speaker Profiles
Commissioner Nisha Agarwal
New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Nisha Agarwal is an accomplished public interest lawyer and a leading voice in immigration reform at the local and national level. She brings to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs an entrepreneurial drive and a proven record of enacting pro-immigrant legislation in New York City and New York State.
Most recently, she worked with Judge Robert A. Katzmann, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to establish the Immigrant Justice Corps, a new nonprofit that will recruit recent law school graduates and partner them with non-profit legal services providers to offer legal representation to undocumented immigrants. She was previously Deputy Director of the Center for Popular Democracy, the groundbreaking non-profit advocacy group dedicated to advancing pro-immigrant, pro-equality and pro-justice policies at the grassroots and national levels, which she co-founded in 2012. Prior to CPD, Commissioner Agarwal served as Director of the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
Commissioner Agarwal received a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from Harvard College and her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Jojo Annobil
Attorney-in-Charge
Immigration Law Unit at Legal Aid Society
Jojo Annobil is the Attorney-in-Charge of the City-wide Immigration Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society. He is currently an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where he co-teaches the Immigrant Defense Clinic. He also serves as Special Counsel to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Department’s disciplinary committee on immigration matters and is co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Immigration.
Reverend Eric Cruz
Regional Coordinator
Catholic Charities for the Bronx, NY
The Reverend Eric Cruz is the administrator of St. John Chrysostom Church in the Bronx and the regional coordinator of the Catholic Charities for the Bronx. As regional coordinator, Reverend Cruz works with religious, community, and civic leaders to facilitate greater communication and collaboration on behalf of needy families and individuals. Reverend Cruz has served as pastor of several parishes and currently serves as a trustee of various charities and Catholic healthcare institutions. Before entering the seminary, Reverend Cruz worked as a newspaper reporter for the South Bend and Chicago Tribune newspapers. Prior to this, he served as an advocate and counselor for migrant students and families enrolled in northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan.
The Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Ph.D., D.D.
Bishop of Brooklyn
The Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio was installed as the Seventh Bishop of Brooklyn, which encompasses the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, on October 3, 2003. He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1970, and has served on 11 pastoral assignments in New Jersey. Bishop DiMarzio was named Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and served as the Sixth Bishop of Camden, Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, from July of 1999 to October 2003. In addition, he is currently a Member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People and is chairman of the board for the Center for Migration Studies and the Migration Policy Institute.
Special assignments of the past include: Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark (1996-1999); Vicar for Human Services, Archdiocese of Newark (1991-1999); Executive Director, Catholic Community Services (1992-1997); Vice President of the Board, Cathedral Health Care Systems, Inc. (1992-1999); Associate Executive Director, Catholic Community Services (1991-1992). Executive Director, Migration and Refugee Services, (USCCB), Washington, D.C. (1985 to 1991); Director of Special Services, Catholic Community Services, Newark (1978 to 1985); Director of Office of Migration, Catholic Community Services, Newark (1977 to 1979); Refugee Resettlement Director – Archdiocese of Newark From (1976 to 1985).
Bishop DiMarzio was also the United States representative to the Global Commission on International Migration (a United Nations Sponsored Commission) and served as our Nation’s Commissioner representative to this organization. Formerly, he was on the Boards of the International Catholic Migration Commission where he served as Vice President, and The National Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Forum. He previously chaired the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration Committee; the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Finance Committee of Catholic Relief Services. In addition, the Bishop has published numerous papers and speeches and testified before Congress on many occasions.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Bishop DiMarzio attended the Immaculate Conception Seminary. He earned his Ph.D. in Social Work Research & Policy at Rutgers University, his Master of Social Work at Fordham University, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Catholic University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Seton Hall University. In addition, he has received an Honorary Doctorate from LaSalle University, Philadelphia; St. John’s University, Queens; and St. Francis College, Brooklyn.
Bishop DiMarzio has spent his ministry of 45 years in the areas of immigration assistance and refugee resettlement services. He has served as both an advocate for refugees and immigrant concerns in political forums, and as the initiator and administrator of programs to assist refugees and immigrants both within the U.S. and in many countries throughout the world.
Anne Erickson
President and CEO
Empire Justice Center
Anne Erickson is President and CEO of the Empire Justice Center, a statewide organization that provides training, support and technical assistance to legal services programs outside New York City; offers legal assistance and undertakes impact litigation impacting core legal issues confronting poor and low income New Yorkers; and engages in legislative and administration advocacy in a broad range of substantive law areas that impact the rights of those in need. Ms. Erickson is a member of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s Task Force to Expand Access to Legal Services and is a member of the Chief Judge’s Committee on Non Lawyer Involvement in the Delivery of Legal Services. She is the former chair of the New York Equal Justice Commission and helped lead the state planning efforts in New York which led to the statewide reconfiguration of the legal services delivery system. Before entering the world of advocacy, Ms. Erickson was a journalist, working as the first legislative correspondent for WAMC-Northeast Public Radio, providing daily coverage of state government and politics and developing and hosting a weekly half-hour news show, The Legislative Gazette. She now chairs the Board of Trustees of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Ms. Erickson is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz with a dual major in English/Journalism and Political Science.
Jennifer C. Friedman
Executive Director
Pace Community Law Practice
Director, Public Interest Law Center
Pace Law School
Jennifer C. Friedman is the Founder and Executive Director of the Pace Community Law Practice (PCLP) at Pace Law School, one of the first legal residency and incubator programs in the country. The PCLP focuses on representation of low and moderate income immigrants, bringing high quality legal services to underrepresented immigrant communities throughout the lower Hudson Valley. She is also the Director of Pace’s Public Interest Law Center. Professor Friedman previously served as the founder and Director of the Courtroom Advocates Project (CAP), a model legal services initiative at Sanctuary for Families that utilizes law students and pro bono law firm attorneys to advocate for domestic violence victims petitioning for orders of protection in New York City’s Family Courts. Professor Friedman is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, where she was a Stone and Kent Scholar and an editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. She is a recipient of the 2008 NYC Bar Association Katherine McDonald Award for Service to the Family Courts, and the 2003 Columbia Alumna Achievement Award.
Laura Garcia
Racial Justice Program Coordinator
YWCA Orange County, New York
Laura Garcia is the Racial Justice Program Coordinator for YWCA Orange County, New York. She is the founder of Dreamers with No Borders, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Rural and Migrant Ministry. Ms. Garcia is a 2015 recipient of the Orange County Human Rights Commission award, and most recently, was a special guest on Univision’s morning show, Al Despertar.
Jan Jamroz
Director of Parish Social Ministry
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockville Centre
Jan Jamroz is the Director of the Parish Social Ministry Department for Catholic Charities of the New York Diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves both counties on Long Island. She has been with Catholic Charities for 13 years. From 1989 through 2001, she served on the pastoral team at a Long Island parish as the coordinator of Parish Social Ministry. In this position, Ms. Jamroz supervised over 100 parish volunteers who served in areas such as employment search and referrals, public policy advocacy efforts, and opportunities for education social justice, among others. Ms. Jamroz completed two terms on the national Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team which supports and promotes Parish Social Ministry across the country with trainings, conferences, publications and resources. She has served on the boards of Housing Help, Inc. and Hunger Action Network of New York State and the Steering Committee of AIDS Interfaith Long Island.
Father Patrick J. Keating
Executive Director
Catholic Migration Services
Father Patrick J. Keating was appointed Associate Vicar for Human Services on June 30, 2013. Father Keating is also the Chief Executive Officer for Catholic Migration Services, an organization that strives to fulfill the Gospel message of “welcoming the stranger.” Founded in 1971, Catholic Migration Services assists immigrants with immigration legal services, immigrant housing legal services, immigrant workers’ rights legal services, and pastoral services for immigrants. During his time at Catholic Migration Services, Father Keating has established a Board of Directors and grown the programs of the agency to better meet the needs of the many immigrant communities in Brooklyn and Queens.
After ordination, Father Keating was assigned to the Parish of Saint Bartholomew in Elmhurst. In addition to his duties as the Parochial Vicar of Saint Bartholomew, he assisted Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan from 2006 to 2013, as a Master of Ceremonies. Currently he assists at the Parish of Saint Finbar in Bath Beach and at the Parish of Saint Barbara in Bushwick.
Father Keating holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Bernard Baruch College, a Master of Arts and Master of Divinity from the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, and recently he received a M.P.A. from the School of Public Administration of Bernard Baruch College. Father Keating is currently attending Brooklyn Law School in pursuit of a Juris Doctor.
Donald Kerwin
Executive Director
Center for Migration Studies
Donald Kerwin, Jr. directs the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), a New York-based educational institute devoted to the study of international migration, to the promotion of understanding between immigrants and receiving communities, and to public policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees and newcomers. CMS was established in 1964 by the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles, Scalabrinians and is a member of the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN), which consists of more than 270 organizations that serve, safeguard and advocate for migrants throughout the world.
Carmen Maquilon
Director, Catholic Charities Immigrant Services
Diocese of Rockville Centre, Long Island
Camille J. Mackler
Director of Legal Initiatives
New York Immigration Coalition
Camille J. Mackler is the Director of Legal Initiatives at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), where she works with NYIC members and a variety of stakeholders on issues relating to immigration law in New York. Before joining the NYIC in March 2013, Ms. Mackler worked in private practice representing immigrants before U.S. Immigration Courts and Federal Courts of Appeals. She holds a Juris Doctor from New York Law School and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Jorge I. Montalvo
Director
New York State Office for New Americans
Jorge Montalvo currently serves in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration as the Director of the New York State Office for New Americans. The Office’s recently opened Opportunity Centers – 27 in total – have been heralded as the model for immigrant integration policy in this country. In their first year alone, the Centers have served more than 34,000 immigrants with English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages training and legal services. Mr. Montalvo employs his training as a chemist to take a “systems-based approach to make change and open opportunities for hard-working people.”
The Most Reverend William Francis Murphy, D.D., S.T.D.
Bishop of Rockville Centre, Long Island
The Most Reverend William Francis Murphy was appointed Bishop of Rockville Centre, Long Island by Pope John Paul II in June 2001 and installed as the Fourth Bishop of Rockville Centre in September 2001.
Born in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, Bishop Murphy attended Boston Public Schools, including Boston Latin School for Harvard College, and pursued studies for the priesthood at St. John’s (Major) Seminary in Boston and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston at Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, on December 16, 1964. Over the next ten years, he served as an assistant pastor in Groveland, Winchester and East Boston while also teaching at Emmanuel College and Pope John XXIII Seminary.
In 1974, Bishop Murphy was called back to Rome where he became a member of the Pontifical Commission Jusititia et Pax. He was appointed Under Secretary in 1980, a position he would hold for seven years. While in Rome, Bishop Murphy was also a lecturer in Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas.
Bishop Murphy returned to the Boston Archdiocese in 1987 to serve in several capacities, including: Secretary of Community Relations; Director of the Office of Social Justice; Director of Pope John XXIII Seminary; and Administrator of Sacred Heart Parish, Lexington, Massachusetts. Bishop Murphy was named Chaplain of Honor to His Holiness in 1979, with the title of Monsignor and elevated to the rank of Prelate of Honor in 1987 by Pope John Paul II. In 1993, he was named Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and Titular Bishop of Saia Maggiore on November 21, 1995 and consecrated a month later on December 27, 1995.
Bishop Murphy has served several times as a member of a Holy See Delegation for United Nations conferences, and as a member of the Third United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in 1988. He has been a member of three Presidential Delegations to Haiti (1987, 1990 and 1991), and was appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2001.
His service to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) included a position on the Board of Directors, as well as a member of the Committees on Latin America, Ad Hoc Committee on Health Care Issues and as an adjunct to the Committee on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the USCCB Committee on Migration. He currently serves as a member of the Committee on International Justice and Peace. He has served as a representative to the Orthodox Union and the Orthodox Rabbis of the RCA.
Bishop Murphy served as Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice, Peace and Human Development. In addition, Bishop Murphy served on the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and the Committee on International Policy. He has served as a member of the Administrative Committee as well as the Committee on Priorities and Plans. He is a member of the Board of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Murphy to serve as a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In 2008, Bishop Murphy was appointed a consultor of the Commission for Religious Relations with Jews of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Bishop Murphy has been awarded a Doctor of Theology, Honoris Causa, from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1999 and a Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, from Salem State College, also in Massachusetts, in 1999. He received the Rabin Peacemaker Award from Merrimack College in Massachusetts in 2002 as well as a Doctor of Laws from St. John’s University in New York in 2002. Bishop Murphy served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and is currently Trustee Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America.
Bishop Murphy is a Knight Commander with Star of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Ecclesiastical Commander of Grace in the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, and was invested as Assistant Chaplain of the American Association of the Sovereign Order of Malta in 2002.
C. Mario Russell
Director, Immigrant & Refugee Services Division
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Mario Russell is the Director of Catholic Charities New York’s Immigrant & Refugee Services Division, which serves New York City and the Hudson Valley. Mr. Russell also conducts federal immigration litigation, manages the St. John’s University Law School asylum clinic, and teaches immigration/human rights law in the United States and Italy. He has consulted with the UNHCR in Europe, the National Commission on Migration in Thailand, and HealthRight International, and has advised on public interest law at Harvard Law School as a Wasserstein Fellow. He has worked at CLINIC, Arent/Fox, and the U.S. District Court in Maryland. In 2013, Mr. Russell received the St. John’s University St. Vincent DePaul Medal of Mission.
Hon. Robert D. Weisel
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge
Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, Executive Office for Immigration Review
United States Department of Justice
The Honorable Robert D. Weisel was appointed as an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge in January 2012. From September 1989 to December 2011, he served at the New York Immigration Court as an immigration judge. Prior to this, from April 1988 to October 1989, Judge Weisel worked as a deputy chief judge for the New York State Workers Compensation Board in Brooklyn. He has also worked as a workers compensation judge for the New York State Workers Compensation Board in Brooklyn, from 1984 to April 1988. In addition to his work in courts, Judge Weisel also has extensive experience as an attorney. From October 1988 to June 1989, he worked as an attorney for Cherry, Edson & Kelly, and from 1979 to 1984, served as a staff attorney for the Social Security Administration in Hempstead, N.Y. Judge Weisel received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Juris Doctorate in 1976 from Hamline University School of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar.
The Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez
Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for the Eastern Vicariate
Diocese of Rockville Centre
The Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez was named auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Long Island by Pope Benedict XVI on June 8, 2012 and ordained at Saint Agnes Cathedral on July 5, 2012, the Feast of Saint James the Apostle. Bishop Pérez attended P.S. Number 4 in West New York, New Jersey, graduated from Memorial High School in West New York, New Jersey. Prior to entering the Seminary, Bishop Pérez taught at Colegio La Piedad, a Catholic elementary school in Puerto Rico.
Bishop Pérez was ordained to the priesthood on May 20, 1989. Special assignments of the past include: Pastor for St. Agnes Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania; Pastor for Church of Saint William in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Parochial Vicar for St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Founding Director of the Catholic Institute for Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; and Assistant Director of the Office for Hispanic Catholics for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In 1998, he was named Chaplain to His Holiness Pope John Paul II with the title of “monsignor.” In 2009, he was made a prelate of honor.
Bishop Pérez received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Montclair State College and graduated summa cum laude from St. Charles Seminary, where he received a Master of Arts in Theology and Master of Divinity.
Michelle Sardone
Coordinator
Committee on Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI)
Ms. Sardone is the Legalization Program Director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). She is responsible for organizing CLINIC’s efforts in preparation for comprehensive immigration reform and assisting CLINIC’s network of over 265 charitable immigration legal services programs in planning for administrative relief. Additionally, she currently serves as the coordinator for the Committee for Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI), a consortium of organizations dedicated to maximize the successful adjustment of status of eligible immigrants through legislation or executive action. Previously, she provided training and technical assistance to CLINIC affiliates on program management and capacity building. Before working at CLINIC, Ms. Sardone was the Legal Services Group Manager at Hogar Immigrant Services of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Arlington, VA. She is a fully-accredited representative who managed a program made up of both attorneys and BIA Accredited Representatives. That program served clients with cases ranging from relative petitions to removal defense as well as providing group processing naturalization workshops. Ms. Sardone holds a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from American University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware.
Monsignor Kevin Sullivan
Executive Director
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Monsignor Kevin Sullivan was appointed Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York after serving as Chief Operating Officer for five years and in other leadership positions for more than 17 years. Monsignor Sullivan studied for the priesthood at St. Joseph’s Seminary, was ordained in 1976 by Terence Cardinal Cooke, and named Monsignor by John Cardinal O’Connor in 1999.
During the 1970s and 1980s, he served as a parish priest at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Washington Heights and co-founded two neighborhood development organizations, the Washington Heights-Inwood Coalition and the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation. Monsignor Sullivan has served as a member of the New York City Council Speaker’s Commission on Homelessness, the Public Policy Committee of the New York State Catholic Conference, and has provided expert testimony about human service issues before Congressional committees. Recently, he served as a member of the New York City Mayor’s Commission for Economic Opportunity, as well as Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Human Services Policy Transition Advisory Committee. After the 9/11 attacks, Monsignor Sullivan, as Chair of the 9/11 United Services Group, led the coordinated assistance to victims by New York charities. He now Chairs the Disaster Preparedness Division of the New York Human Services Council, of which he is a Vice-Chair.
Monsignor Sullivan has taught in graduate programs at the Mendoza College of Business, and the University of Notre Dame where he was a consultant to the dean regarding the College’s Masters program in non-profit management. He has taught at New York University and the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy of the New School University.
Monsignor Sullivan is a member of the Commission of Religious Leaders (“CORL”) an interfaith organization created in August 2014 and consisting of New York City religious leaders of many denominations committed to the healing, reconciliation and solidarity of the diverse communities of New York City. He was a board member of many healthcare organizations, including St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center, Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center, the Carmel Richmond Housing Corporation, and the St. Vincent de Paul Residence. During the 1990s, he served as Co-Chair of the Partnership for the Homeless.
Monsignor Sullivan received a Master’s Degree in public administration at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University, and a doctorate in Public Administration at New York University. He graduated cum laude from Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception.
Beatriz Diaz Taveras
Executive Director
Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York
Beatriz Diaz Taveras is the Executive Director of Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Diaz Taveras was special assistant to the Executive Director of Catholic Charities and secretary to the Catholic Charities Board of Trustees. She is also Catholic Charities’ liaison to Catholic Charities USA. Ms. Diaz Taveras has held management positions with Catholic Charities for over twenty years, including having served as Director of Immigrant and Refugee Services for Catholic Charities. Ms. Diaz Taveras currently serves on the Board of Incarnation Children Center and New York State Catholic Conference Public Policy Committee. She has served on the boards of Catholic Charities USA, the New York Immigration Coalition, and Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Catholic Charities USA Committee for the Advancement of Racial Equality! (CARE!) and the Intercultural Council of the Archdiocese of New York. Ms. Diaz Taveras graduated from Syracuse University with a major in business, and holds a Master in Business Administration from Pace University.
Patrick Young
Program Director
Central American Refugee Center
Patrick Young is Program Director of the Central American Refugee Center (CARECEN-N.Y.). He is Special Professor of Immigration Law at Hofstra University School of Law and he writes for the popular web site Long Island Wins. Mr. Young is also Policy Analyst for the New York State Immigrant Action Fund and the principal writer for the Fund’s web site. In addition, he serves as Vice Chairperson for the Board of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), the largest state immigrant coalition in the United States. In 2012, he was named Co-Director of Hofstra Law School’s Immigration Clinic. A graduate of Hofstra University School of Law, Patrick is currently writing a history of immigrant participation in the American Civil War.