When Communities Need Solutions Fast, ImmRG Delivers
Immigration legal needs can change quickly. When demand surges, traditional service delivery models often struggle to keep pace.
Nonprofits become overwhelmed, legal aid waitlists grow, and people who are eligible for immigration benefits are left without access to the legal help they need.
ImmRG was created to help communities respond differently.
By combining technology, legal expertise, centralized coordination, ImmRG can expand legal access at a scale that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.
Responding to an Urgent Need: Colorado's Statewide TPS Initiative
As the number of recently arrived immigrants surged in Colorado, the need for immigration legal services became critical. Immigration Response Group partnered with the Colorado Office of New Americans and Rose Community Foundation to address this urgent need.
Starting in the fall of 2022, Colorado began receiving a massive influx of migrants from the Southern Border. Many of these people were eligible for Temporary Protected Status and Employment Authorization yet they lacked the resources to hire private immigration attorneys.
Nonprofit legal service providers were facing overwhelming demand, and traditional legal clinic models could not keep up with the volume of need.
State and local leaders needed a solution that could help eligible individuals access legal services quickly, efficiently, and at scale.
The Solution: Rethinking the Traditional Model
ImmRG developed a technology-enabled model that combined virtual legal service delivery, centralized project coordination, and strategic nonprofit partnerships.
The model significantly increased legal service capacity without requiring a proportional increase in staffing or infrastructure and expanded access to legal services statewide, including rural areas and other areas with limited access to immigration attorneys.
The Results
Over a five-month period, ImmRG helped coordinate and facilitate the filing of 2,203 TPS applications across Colorado.
ImmRG recruited 118 attorney-preparers from 13 states. We trained and managed 17 nonprofit intake partners and 59 bilingual volunteers.
The project ran for just five months, processing more TPS applications, in a shorter time, than states much larger than Colorado.
“As the fiscal sponsor of the Colorado Virtual TPS Project, Rose Community Foundation was proud to support this work helping newly arrived immigrants when they needed it most. Kerri and Brandon’s leadership and knowledge, along with their creative use of technology and strong partnerships, helped ensure thousands of people got the legal help they needed. This project reflects Rose's commitment to supporting immigrant and refugee communities in meaningful ways."
-Sarah Kurz, Rose Community Foundation
