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Woburn JFON Clinic Reopens
 

After over 3 years of reorganizing and planning a committed team of church and community volunteers have set in motion the reopening of the Woburn JFON clinic. At the end of October the New England JFON Board with the approval of the Woburn JFON clinic planning team entered into a partnership with Northeast Legal Aid (NELA) and Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). NELA and GBLS will provide the legal services for 18 clinics over the course of the next 12 months. The JFON Clinic planning team is preparing for a clinic reopening in early December at the Woburn United Methodist Church.

Volunteers are needed to assist with the intake process, meal preparation and children’s activities. National JFON Program Manager Melissa Bowe will be at the Woburn UMC on November 16th to provide training and support for the reopening.  

Many thanks to the churches and community members who have supported the Woburn clinic during this reorganizing process. Look for clinic updates on the reopening activities. Lastly, a shout out to all who have been organizing the 3rd Annual JFON Dinner in support of the Woburn clinic. We look forward to a wonderful celebration on November 11th at St. John’s UMC in Lexington. 

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News from Portland
 

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Help #SaveTPS   
by Melissa Bowe, NJFON Program and Advocacy Manager

 
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was created to provide protection to those in the United States when it is unsafe for them to return home. TPS has given about 330,000 people from 10 countries the opportunity to rebuild their lives in America. Now these folks are at risk of losing their status.
 
We want to keep TPS protections intact and extend all TPS protections for at least 18 months, and for as long as the dangerous conditions in these countries persist. We at JFON have hundreds of clients with TPS. They risk being separated from their families and communities and sent back to a country that is unsafe. We must act now to #SaveTPS!
 
Please call the phone number on the message to be put in contact with your representative. Leave your own message or use the one provided. Let your representative know, in no uncertain terms, that you stand with our immigrant neighbors! 

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Bonnie Marden and Bob Moore attended the National Roundatable of Justice for Our Neighbors in Detroit, September 27-29. Jennifer Clark & Miriam Downey read from their book, Immigration & Justice for Our Neighbors an anthology of writing ((Celery City Books, 2017). A book was presented to each JFON site. Here is an excerpt.
 
Hear the Cry / Mollie Clements
 
Hear the cry
Of the seven year old
whose papa is taken from him
as the family sits around the table
eating tamales his mama has made.
Two men in uniforms come.
They take his papa away
even though his mama cries, “No! No!!”
 
Hear the cry
of the man whose wife leaves
because life becomes too much
     too hard
     too poor
     too unendingly miserable
     too disillusioning of dreams
even though the coyote
got them across the border
for their baby to be born here.
She left to spend her nights
     with multiple men
     who put dollars in her pocket.
He is left alone with his child
     whom he leaves with a neighbor
while he works too hard for too little
living in fear of the knock on the door,
his daughter left with no family.
 
Hear the cry
of the woman
whose husband is taken away—
deported to Columbia
to his village
where he is soon murdered.
Then she hears the knock on the door
and her son is taken away.
She gets the phone call:
     her nineteen-year-old
     had been killed
     by drug lords.
Hear her cry.

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Litany of the Displaced