Event Spotlights
SIREN | Services, Immigration Rights, and Education Network
SIREN was a guest organization at a recent FLYP mixer. Their mission is to empower low-income immigrants and refugees through community education and organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy, civic engagement and legal services. Together Natalie Vasquez and Jessica Flores shared the wonderful resources SIREN has to offer. Check out their Q&A with our FLYP team below. Click here to learn more about SIREN.
Q&A With Natalie Vasquez and Jessica Flores from SIREN
How can young people (whether they're part of a professional organization like FLYP, or young professionals who are climbing up in their careers) get involved with social justice issues such as immigration rights and other issues like that?
Jessica Flores: Yeah, so I think I can answer the second half of that question, ways that they can get involved. So they're young, I'm guessing maybe under 40 years old, they're getting started. Oftentimes, these young professionals are first-gen, second-gen, so just simply with that fact, they understand living kind of in the middle of having perhaps immigrant parents or parents who have already naturalized, but understanding the fear that they themselves or no family members are experiencing. So what they can do if they already have like a business page that they've been doing is share resources, follow the Valley Watch Network, repost the resources when they post them, follow organizations like SIREN, like some of our partners, Education Leadership Foundation. We post a lot of really great resources, and oftentimes a lot of community members don't see this unless pages they follow are reposted. So that's a really great first step. This age of social media is a really great way to get that information out. And simply just by informing yourself, if you see community events, go to them. Oftentimes, there's community fairs. You can get a bunch of really great resources. Display them if you have a storefront. Take them with you. Hand them to your neighbors. And that's a really great way. Partner with orgs. Reach out to us and say, hey, what can I get and take back to my community? That's a really great way for them to get involved into these issues.
Natalie Vasquez: Yeah, and to address the other part of your question, which I believe was what do these times mean to young professionals, as Jess mentioned, a lot of young professionals today are first-gen, maybe immigrants themselves. Their parents are immigrants. And these times are very fearful, and it may make it that much harder for them to get involved in their careers and get kind of started with that, especially as certain businesses are more welcoming than others when it comes to immigration status. So like Jess said, really making those connections and really just building your community and learning how to keep yourself safe, your business safe, and your clients safe as well, depending on where you are.
Why are organizations like FLYP important to the community, and how does that impact the communities that we live in?
Jessica Flores: I think they're important because these are spaces that perhaps didn't exist when we were younger or when other professionals who have already been in their business for 10 plus years, they didn't have that space to connect with other sectors, you know, it helps knowing like a journalist person in case you ever want them to write a story about your business. It helps to know those who are working in the legal field in case you just never know, so having that community of those people you can go ahead and turn to when the time comes, it's very empowering, and it further strengthens the community, being able to have those resources easily accessible.
Natalie Vasquez: Yeah, and I totally agree with Jess, and the other part of that also, building community, building those connections, as a young professional myself, I know that I'm constantly finding ties with other professionals that are in a completely different field than I am, but somehow our work intersects, so I think really finding those points of intersection at events like this are super important, and it's a great way to also make that in-person connection. There's something to be said about having a conversation face-to-face rather than, you know, on Indeed or on LinkedIn, which as important as those networking resources are, I think that being in-person just leaves so much more of a lasting impact and really helps you get those connections you need as a young professional starting out in your field.
How can people access these resources in the community?
Jessica Flores: So I think one way to access these resources in your community, it may seem really hard to get involved in, take the first step in getting involved in these communities and these spaces, but really coming to events like this, answering open calls when you see them on Instagram, on Facebook, whatever flyers you see posted around your neighborhood, just go check out the event. It's going to be really, it might be hard at first to kind of put your feet in the water and go someplace new and have to meet a lot of new people, but really once you make that connection and really get yourself out there, everyone is welcoming, everyone is friendly, everyone wants to help you climb the ladder and get to where you want to be. So I think that coming to events like this is a really great first step in accessing these community resources and really taking advantage of all that it has to offer.
Natalie Vasquez: Yeah, I completely agree. Sometimes as someone who doesn't like going to things alone, for this, it'll just help you. You'll always walk away with a business card. If you're nervous, come prepared with a business card or anything you can hand out. And bridging the gap of how can you connect with other organizations as a young professional is inviting us. Thank you for having Siren be here today, inviting different organizations. That way folks can approach us. Because oftentimes, even if you're not looking for immigration legal services, we can still connect you to other partners who perhaps do housing justice, environmental justice, and that's just a really great way of being able to do that because that face-to-face connection is really what makes a difference.
Can you tell us about the services SIREN offers to the community?
Jessica Flores: Yeah, so our direct services are the immigration legal services. We understand that there's a big need oftentimes. Getting a consultation is an obstacle with a private attorney. They can charge more than $100 just for like a quick 15 minutes, but with us at SIREN, we offer the consultations for free. So whether you're specifically looking assistance for an asylum case, family petition, or just general because you're not sure what you qualify for, you can call our office and get that free consultation. And it's over the phone, so there's no need to come in person. And we also do DACA renewal clinics. So if you need to redo your DACA, you can just sign up, upload the documents, and then our attorneys will call you to make sure everything is good to go. We do naturalization, green card renewals. So our team does a lot. And we do service from the Bay Area, San Jose, all the way to the Central Valley. We are in Fresno. That's where our HQ is. But, again, if you're in between, if you have family, feel free to send them to us at SIREN.
Natalie Vasquez: In addition to that, we also have a youth program. So we have a youth program for youth ages 13 to 21, and we provide a variety of different programs. So we have an internship. We have a fellowship. We have a summer program, an annual conference that we do, and then monthly meetings. And all of these are free, and some of them are even paid. So definitely worth it to check it out on our website. If you are someone who knows within those ages, we also have volunteer opportunities if you want to just get involved in another way. So our organization has a lot to offer here in Fresno, and I definitely encourage folks to get involved with us.
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