How do you celebrate the holiday festivities?
We asked some friends at the county to share their
family traditions during the holiday season.
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“My family and I have been celebrating Chanukah this week – one of the traditions is to eat fried foods which include “sufganiyot” or jelly doughnuts. At my previous office I had a tradition of bringing in jelly doughnuts to share – and this year I am continuing the tradition here at the County Executive Office.” – Rose Litvin Office of Cultural Competency
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"I come from a refugee-immigrant family and while we practice Vietnamese folk religion, we celebrate the Christmas festivities as a way to celebrate our hyphenated-American identity. But the holiday cannot be complete without freshly fried churros from Christmas in the Park–a Californian Christmastime must." – Carolyn Lê Office of Immigrant Relations
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Like many Latin immigrant families in America, my family celebrates Christmas, but we also look forward to celebrating a tradition from Mexico called Día de Los Reyes (Three King’s Day) in early January. Día de Los Reyes brings a second wave of gift giving, but the best part is sharing la Rosca de Reyes (kings cake) with family. – David Acevedo Office of Immigrant Relations
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Serbian Christmas comes two weeks later, on January 7th. On Christmas Eve, the entire community goes to St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church in Saratoga. A yule branch is lit and everyone gathers around it. The priest performs his religious ritual as he walks around it. This ritual has ancient pagan roots. Many children love this ritual and receive presents afterwards. – Milina Jovanovic Office of Immigrant Relations
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Farewell Message from Maria Love, Director of the Office of Immigrant Relations
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It Has Been a True Honor to My Staff and Partners
I begun my journey as the manager for the Office of Immigrant Relations in 2015 not knowing what was ahead. The initial task before me was to access what had been done to serve the immigrant community, the current investments to provide services, and changes needed to build a structure to reach full integration of immigrants in the community. The task before me was not an easy one, but I was up to the challenge and had the confidence, support and guidance of the person who choose me to embark on this journey, the current Employment Services Director John Mills who at the time was a Deputy County Executive. Equally as important, I had the knowledge and support of two amazing staff members who had been doing work within the immigration landscape for many years and are extremely knowledgeable, committed and amazingly strong women, Milina Jovanovic and Teresa Castellanos. The three of us rolled up our sleeves and begun creating a structure that was not there before.
Looking back at the last three and a half years, there have been many accomplishments that I am profoundly proud of; developed a framework and strategic plan in collaboration with many community-based organizations to ensure the office works and runs on an intentional, aligned and focused way. Successfully created a program to fund legal services organizations to provide legal representation to children, parents and families facing deportation to ensure families are not separated. Successfully lead, managed and launched the “One County One Future” media campaign to raise awareness among Santa Clara County immigrants about the resources available to them through OIR and to reinforce the County’s commitment to serving and welcoming immigrants to the County. In early 2018 this campaign was awarded the national Gold Communicator Award by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts for embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. One of the accomplishments I am most proud of is the establishment and implementation of the New Americans Fellowship program. The program provides the opportunity for youth enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to be placed in various county departments to expand their interdisciplinary skills, problem solve and gain policy analysis skills and turn those learned skills into action by serving their very own immigrant community.
It has been my sincere privilege and honor to be given the opportunity to help and advocate for immigrants in so many ways. When I arrived in this land of opportunity at the age of 14, I would have laughed at the idea that I would be given the opportunity to serve my very own immigrant community. Even though I am moving on to other opportunities, I will continue to raise my voice as loudly as possible to ensure immigrant rights are always protected, so immigrants are seen the amazing givers and providers they are, but most importantly so that they are given the same opportunities given to me, so they can also achieve their dreams. Thank you to all the many individuals and organizations I had the honor and privilege to work with and learn from during my time with OIR. To those if you who welcomed me into your work, your advocacy and your organizations, you walked this journey along with me and for that I sincerely thank you. To the incredible staff of the office, I could not have done this work without you. Thank you for trusting me as your leader and for teaching me what commitment to others looks like, I will truly miss you!
May you continue to impact the lives of so many, and do not stop fighting for what is right and needed in this world.
With my deepest and sincere gratitude,
Maria Love
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Message from the Office Of
Immigrant Relations Team
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The Office of Immigrant Relations team sends Maria our absolute best wishes as she takes on new projects, tackle new challenges, make new friends, and be the powerhouse woman that we know so well in her new role. As our Office continues making advances in our work, we will always bear in mind that we stand upon the shoulders of trailblazers like Maria.
Thanks for your leadership and your steadfast commitment to the immigrant community. We love you and will miss you deeply.
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Immigrant Contributions: Announcement
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Immigrants fuel the development of this region and improve the lives of all residents. The Office appreciates their enormous contributions by presenting the Beacon of Light Awards. On January 25th, 2019, Fr. Jon from Catholic Charities will receive the Cindy Avitia Lifetime Award and Almaz Negash from the African Diaspora Network, Beth Chance from the Santa Clara County Public Defender Office, and the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network will receive the Beacon of Light Award. Congratulations to these exceptional community leaders on the front lines of advancing immigrant rights!
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Community Updates and Resources
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ilrc Webinar: Public Charge Updates
Tuesday December 18 | 11:00am - 12:30 pm Pacific Time
*This webinar is free for staff of nonprofit organizations
Learn about the latest issues from Immigrant Legal Resource Center in public charge inadmissibility and access to public benefits for non-citizens. This webinar will include an update on a recent regulatory proposal regarding public charge inadmissibility by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Register here.
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Congress just gave themselves two more weeks to negotiate how much money they want to give to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two agencies rotten to the core.
For more information, visit the Detention Watch Network.
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FEATURE / OP ED STORY
Those seeking asylum today inherited a series of crises that drove them to the border.
Immigrants:
“We are here
because you were there.”
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