Please join us for our upcoming volunteer tea party and learn more about how you can help:

2011 Pacific McGeorge Citizenship Fair

November 19, 2011

When: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Pacific McGeorge School of Law Student Center at 3200 Fifth Ave. in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento (locator map).

Description: Free legal services will be provided by law students and Sacramento attorneys to assist qualified individuals with completing and filing naturalization applications (N-400 and N-600) and assistance with fee waiver applications to apply for naturalization. Study materials for Civics and English tests will also be provided.

Note: The event is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.

For more information: Call 916.739.7138 or email McGeorgeEvents@pacific.edu.

Download the event flier in ...

• Arabic
• Chinese, simple
• Chinese, traditional
• English
• Farsi
• Hmong
• Romanian
• Russian
• Spanish
• Vietnamese

Detailed description:

Sponsors of the fair include Univisión/Telefutura, NALEO Education Fund, League of Women Voters of Sacramento County, and the Immigrant & Refugee Trauma Institute of Sacramento. Numerous student groups from Pacific McGeorge and the University of the Pacific's Stockton campus are also involved in the effort.

Congresswoman Doris Matsui, California Senate President Darrell Steinberg, and Assemblyman Roger Dickinson are among the invited speakers. Faculty and staff members of Pacific McGeorge's Community Legal Services branch will assist organizing professors Raquel Aldana and Blake Nordahl at the event.

• Receive Free Legal Help Completing and Filing Your Naturalization Application (N-400 and N-600)
• Receive Free Help with the Fee Waiver to Apply for Naturalization, If You Qualify
• Receive Study Materials for Civics and English Tests
• Free blood pressure and vision screening provided by Dept. of Public Health Sciences UC Davis School of Medicine

Why attend?

With Citizenship:

• You can vote.
• You could bring your children and spouse more quickly to the U.S. and sponsor your parents, brothers, sisters and married children.
• You may choose to apply for government jobs.
• You will gain more security to stay in the country.
• You will access greater economic rights, potentially including healthcare.

Documents to Bring to the Citizenship Fair:

• Your green card
• Copy of your spouse's U.S. birth certificate or citizenship certificate (if applicable)
• All divorce or death certificates for you and your spouse's prior marriages (if applicable)
• Your Social Security card
• Your foreign passport, if applicable
• Two passport style photographs
• Filing fee: 2 personal checks for $595 and $85 or fee waiver documents (see below)
• If married to a U.S. citizen, a copy of your marriage certificate
• If male who lived in the U.S. from the ages of 18-26, evidence of Selective Service registration (waiver may be available)
• Birth certificates and green cards of all children (if applicable)
• Documentation of all arrests and/or convictions, including reasons for the arrest, date, place, and outcome/disposition. Bring ALL arrest and court documents, even if charges were dropped.

Information to Bring:

• List of all employers or schools for the past five years, including addresses and dates employed
• List of all addresses (including zip code) where you have lived for the past five years
• List of all trips outside the U.S. during the last five years, including dates of each exit and reentry
• Information about all current and former spouses and all children, including full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, alien number, date and place of naturalization, and current address
• Information about your own and your spouse's current and prior marriages, including date of marriage, date marriage ended, and how marriage ended (divorce/death/annulment)

Fee Waiver

Depending on your household income and assets, you may qualify for a waiver of the filing fees. If you want consideration of whether you are eligible for the fee waiver, please bring the following:

• 2010 Federal Income Tax Return and;
• Recent pay statement of all working members of household; or
• Evidence of current public benefits received such as SSI, Food Stamps, Medicaid or Cash Aid.
• Documentation of essential monthly expenses including rent/mortgage payment, utilities, food, and childcare.

You May Be Eligible to Become a U.S. Citizen If:

• You are at least 18 years of age and;
• You have been a lawful permanent resident (LPR)
  • For at least five years; or
  • For three years if you have been married to a
  U.S. citizen for three years with whom you still live (waiver of living together requirement may be available for victims of domestic violence); or
  • You have qualifying military service; and
• You have continuously resided in the U.S. for the past five years with no single absence longer than six months; and
• You have been physically present in the U.S. for at least half of the required time; and
• You have resided in the USCIS district in which you are applying for citizenship for at least three months; and
• You speak, read and write basic English.

Seniors are NOT exempt except:

• If age 55 and older and an LPR for 15 years or more (at filing time);
• If age 50 or older and an LPR for 20 years (at filing time);
• If a physical or developmental disability lasting at least one year impairs learning English. Extra form and doctor explanation required.
• You have good moral character; and
• You are attached to the principles of the U.S. Constitution (generally requires a written and oral oath, with limited religious exemption).

click image to view flyer

Good Jobs Now!  Career Fair

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 10:00AM to 3:00PM

Oakland Coliseum - Eastside Club, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621

Accessible by public transportation: Take BART to the Oakland Coliseum or AC Transit bus lines: 45, 46, 73, 98, 356, 805

This event is FREE and open to the public!

- free event parking -

Dress for success and bring resumes for this unique opportunity!

Wheelchair accessible

Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.

For TDD services, please call: (510) 622-4305 or (510) 563-5244

This event is a multi-agency collaboration between the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the Oakland Private Industry Council, the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, the City of Oakland Enterprise Zone, the Office of Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson,the Office of Oakland City Council President Larry Reid, and the Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-Office of Congresswoman CIO, Office of Assemblyman Sandre Swanson.

DO YOU FEAR YOUR CHILD MAY BE ATTRACTED TO GANGS OR INVOLVED IN A GANG?

• Do you fear your child may be hanging out with the wrong crowd?
• Do you live in a neighborhood where crime is prevalent?
• Do you know your child’s friends?

Program begins:  Thursday, November 3, 2011

New Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.*

Held: Auditorium, 1390 66thAve. Oakland, CA

For more information      call: (510) 482-1738

Classes held on the following Thursdays:

• November 03, 2011*   Self Esteem: Communication     
• November 10, 2011     Violence Prevention 911- 411      
• November 17, 2011     Conflict Resolution
• December 01, 2011*    Substance use and abuse
• December 08, 2011     Nutrition/Stress
• December 15, 2011     Putting it all Together/ Celebration            

 *November 3rd and December 1st class will begin at 6:30pm

(First come, First serve)

WHEN: October 27, 2011

TIME : 10:00AM - 12:30PM

WHERE:  Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay

655 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606

A message from Mayor Quan:

Greetings!

We are banding together as neighbors on our blocks and as a City to fight crime at all levels. We are pledging to replace complacency with commitment, fear with fortitude and isolation with community.

It starts at home with neighbors reaching out to neighbors and getting to know each other. Organized neighborhoods are safer neighborhoods.

It grows with building positive relationships between our police and our neighborhoods. Working together in Neighborhood Councils, police can focus on the top safety priorities of particular neighborhoods.  

It requires providing our police with the resources they need to do their job effectively and safely, and working in partnership with other public agencies such as the School District, the District Attorney, the Probation Department and our state and federal partners.  And it relies on formal and informal violence prevention activities  so that keeping our city safe is part of our collective culture as a city.

Please step up to the plate and join us at the Neighborhood Safety Summit to stand up for a safer Oakland. 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

8 am-1:30 pm

Laney College Gymnasium

900 Fallon Street, Oakland

Parking off of 7th Street   

Together, we CAN stop the violence by sharing strategies for stronger neighborhoods.

Mayor Jean Quan 

Oakland's Challenge: Keynote Panel

Click here for the flyer (pdf download)

Details:

September 17, 2011, 11am – 3pm

Laurel United Methodist Church

3525 Kansas Street, Oakland, CA 94619

FREE Medical Screenings:

• BMI calculation (height, weight)
• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol
• Hepatitis B
• Hearing
• Dental
• Vision
• Whooping cough vaccine
• General medical consultation
• Health Needs assessment

Also Featuring:

• Healthy cooking demo
• Community garden tour
• Exercise activities
• Dance performances
• Children’s activities
• RAFFLE and PRIZES

Resources and Info:

• Welfare
• Legal rights
• Adult education
• Home repair
• Safety
• Healthy living

Brought to you by:

Pacific Islander Kie Association (PIKA); Street Level Health Project; Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA); Alameda County Public Health Department; UC Berkeley Hep. B Project; Initiative for Community Wellness CSEB, Hayward; Samuel Merritt University, School of Nursing; Loto Taha Pasifika; ARC Associates.

It may seem like old news, but it’s not.  The Foreclosure Crisis that hit in 2007 was quake that sent a tsunami to all corners of the world’s economy. As a recent article in Oakland Local attests, California really was and is 'Ground Zero', and the tremors continue to rock the lives of those who have been caught in the rubble.

Ok, enough with the earthquake metaphors...

But honestly, we have witnessed the evolution and continued effects of the foreclosure crisis on a daily basis here at Lao Family's Multilingual Home Ownership Center.

At first, in 2007, we saw clients who had fallen prey to predatory lenders who falsified documents, mis-stating borrower's income, giving them loans they never could have afforded, or signing them up for balloon loans that could triple or quadruple payments after a certain number of years. The foreclosure clients we see were not educated when they went into the process, did not understand the terms of their loan, and most of our limited-English clients only learned what the terms of the loans they'd signed when we read them to them in their own language for the first time, well into the foreclosure process.

The next wave came as the recession hit, folks were laid off and it took many of our clients over 2-3 years to find work again, despite major efforts to do so. Others faced divorce (often because of conflicts that start over financial trouble), death of spouses, or health issues that led to disability and joblessness. The foreclosure crisis spread as home values plummeted, and most folks who had bought homes in the previous 4 or 5 years found the value of their property had plummeted way below the amount they owed on their mortgage- they were "under water."

The loss of one's home is one of the most stressful experiences a person can have. When you pair that will the uncertainty of the economy, job loss, crippling illness, divorce or the loss of a loved one, our clients are in a fragile state. That is when they come to us, so that we can help guide them through the process of negotiating a loan modification with the bank. The process is often arduous, taking many months, even as long as a year, and often not ending well for homeowners. Luckily, our housing counselor, Chery Cheung, is there to lend a sympathetic ear, deep knowledge of the process, years of experience dealing with the banks, and the tenacity to keep the process moving to achieve the best outcome possible for the client under their particular situations.

Unfortunately, we are lacking funding for this program, and we need your help to keep it going. Please contribute to help us help others through this difficult time.

Click here to make a donation online.

Read More:

We were glad to see these two articles that put a human face on the foreclosure crisis.

Faces of Foreclosure: Thrown into an unstable rental market in Oakland

California: 'Ground Zero' for America’s foreclosure crisis