Our Mission:
ICIRR is dedicated to promote the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.In partnership with our member organizations, the Coalition educates and organizes immigrant and refugee communities to assert their rights; promotes citizenship and civic participation; monitors, analyzes, and advocates on immigrant-related issues; and, informs the general public about the contributions of immigrants and refugees.
Our Address:
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
55 E. Jackson Blvd, Suite 2075
Chicago, IL 60604
312-332-7360
fax: 312-332-7044
Status Report November 2006
Our State-Level Agenda:
· Drivers Certificates for the Undocumented, so that all Illinois drivers can be licensed and insured, and all Illinoisans can be safer.
· Permanent Extension of the New Americans Initiative for U.S. citizenship line item, so that legal Illinois immigrants can quickly become Americans.
· A $20 million major new “We Want to Learn English Initiative,” to make Illinois the best state in the nation in assisting immigrants learn English in their communities, at their places of work, school, and worship.
Our Strategy:
· For Undocumented Immigrants: Push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform on the Federal level and Drivers Certificates on the State level
· For Green-Card Holders: Target the 417,000+ eligible Legal Permanent Residents through a state-wide, coordinated community outreach and media campaign to shepherd these people into the citizenship pipeline (the New Americans Initiative) Current budget: $3,400,000 a year.
· For Naturalized US Citizens: Register new US citizens to vote in urban, suburban, and targeted downstate communities and turn them out to vote in a coordinated, metropolitan-wide campaign (the New Americans Democracy Project) 2006 budget: $600,000.
Our 2006 New American Democracy Project Results to date:
o 18 New Americans Democracy Fellows, full-time field organizers, have been given intensive training in community organizing, voter registration and GOTV and placed in the following communities:
* Schaumburg/Hanover Park
* Elgin
* Aurora
* Waukegan
* Addison/Bloomingdale
* Joliet
* Berwyn
* Melrose Park/ Stone Park
* West Town/ Humboldt Park
* Pilsen/ La Villita
* Uptown/Edgewater
* Albany Park
* Marquette Park/Gage Park
* Bridgeview
* West Ridge
* Korean Community
* Volunteer-run field operations in Rockford and Champaign.
o Since January 1st, ICIRR has registered 16,556 people to vote.
o Since January 2004, ICIRR has registered 42,057 people to vote through the Chicago metropolitan area
o In 2005, we trained 105 volunteers in campaign management
o During the New Americans Democracy Project 2006, we have trained and mobilized over 300 volunteers in voter registration and Get Out The Vote skills
***RESULTS, ELECTION DAY 2006***
On November 7, Election Day, we had 15,552 volunteers working on our Get-Out-The-Vote Operation plus 39 lawyers working Election Protection in our 357 precincts.
Our GOTV operations increased turnout in high Latino/Asian/Muslim voter precincts through a sophisticated direct voter contact program including, for our most at-risk voters 1 door-to-door contact, 1 live phone call, 2 follow-up mailings, 1 robo-call the Saturday before E-day, and a complete Election Day contact program including phones, door knocking, and door hangers with polling place information. (Results below as of Nov. 13, still awaiting precinct-by-precinct results from Cook, Dupage, Aurora City, and Will Counties.)
Elgin/Carpentersville (22nd Senate District)
· In the most densely Latino precinct in Elgin, we increased turnout by 91% over the expected turnout. Where only 234 voters were to turnout on Election Day, with our GOTV operation turned out 425 voters to the polls.
· In Carpentersville, there was an overall 4% increase in turnout, with the most densely Latino precincts experiencing between an 11-20% increase.
Melrose Park/Stone Park
· In the most densely Latino precincts of Leyden and Proviso Townships, there was a 9 – 50% increase in turnout over expected vote.
Gage Park/Marquette Park/Pilsen/La Villita
· Chicago wards 13, 14, 15, and 16, where we had 2 Democracy Project Fellows and over 200 volunteers working on Election Day had a dramatic 21% overall increase in turnout over expected vote.
· The the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village, in the precincts we worked there was an overall 18% increase in voter turnout, with many of our priority precincts experiencing between a 9-30% increase. Our top priority precinct in the 22nd ward increased turnout by nearly 100%, almost doubling voter turnout in this historically low voter turnout neighborhood.
Palos Towship
· In 2002, during the last midterm election, only 182 voters turned out in the densely Arab/Muslim precinct of Palos 44. This year we increased it to 326, a 50% increase.
Our New Americans Initiative results to date:
o Outreach: 45,433 people were contacted with information about citizenship and the process. These contacts include phone calls, door-to-door, passing out flyers, among others.
o Toll free number (877-792-1500): From February through December 2005, we have received 28,421 calls from all over Illinois.
o Website: (newamericans-il.org; and the new easier-to-remember urls that lead to the same site: becomeacitizennow.org and, in Spanish, hazteciudadanoahora.org) Since February 2005, 42,638 visits have been made to the website.
o Citizenship Workshops: Since February 2005, 194 citizenship workshops have been held in 45 communities across the state: Addison, Arcola, Arlington Heights, Aurora Beardstown,, Bensenville, Bloomington, Carpentersville, Chicago Heights, Cicero, Danville, Decatur, De Kalb, Elgin, Evanston, Glen Ellyn, La Salle, Maywood, Melrose Park, Naperville, Mundelein, Joliet, Kankakee, Chicago North Side and South Side. Bartlett, Mt. Prospect, Palatine, Round Lake, Skokie, Mendota, Moline, Peoria, Rantoul, Rockford, Springfield, Berwyn, Lombard, Wheaton, Bolingbrook, Bridgeview, Plano, Belvidere, Schaumburg Urbana, Waukegan, West Chicago, and Woodstock.
o Over 7,538 volunteers assisted applicants in these workshops.
o Since we started operations last February 2005, 15,306 naturalization applications were prepared, screened through the NAI.
o Citizenship Preparation: 325 classes were offered through the NAI.
o Increase in immigrant citizens 2000 -2005:
DuPage County: 61,051 to 91,234 (49.4%)
Lake County: 35,111 to 44,439 (26.6%)
All suburbs: 332,806 to 459,814 (38.2%)
