North Country Immigrant Allies will receive more than $32,000 to expand programs that help immigrant families prepare for possible immigration detention and address language barriers.
The funding from the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI), a project of the Adirondack North Country Association, will support the advocacy group’s programs through 2027. Around half of the grant will go toward new weekly family preparedness clinics in communities with significant immigrant populations working in hospitality and agriculture.
At the clinics, immigrants can work with volunteers to prepare financial and legal documents they may need if a family member is detained, including powers of attorney, child custody and bond packages.
Keela Grimmette, a coordinator with North Country Immigrant Allies, said proactive planning can make it easier for families to manage stress and deal with the consequences of a detention.
“It’s very similar to creating a will,” Grimmette said. “It’s really thinking through all of the pieces of [a detention]. It’s plan for the worst, hope for the best.”
St. Eustace Episcopal Church rector Ken Hitch (left) and Keela Grimmette (right) are organizers with Lake Placid Immigrant Allies. Photo by David Escobar
Previously, the group had largely relied on grassroots funding and pro bono support to provide those services. While the group has begun tapping into resources through the state’s Office for New Americans, Grimmette said the recent financial boost from ADI will also help it address a pressing barrier in its work: language access.
While North Country Immigrant Allies has about 100 volunteers, only a few speak Spanish fluently. Grimmette said most of the immigrants the group serves are Spanish speakers.
The funding will pay for the group to have interpreters in its legal clinics and to enroll its volunteer members in Spanish classes. It will also support English classes for interested community members, which Grimmette said could help immigrants live among predominantly English-speaking North Country communities—and better communicate with officers in the event of a detention.
“People can just start to learn the language more fully to be able to equip themselves for daily life,” she said, “but also to help them in situations where they might really be at a bit of an impasse without the ability to speak English to an officer.”
The grant money will also support community events around the North Country, including potluck and social gatherings designed to connect new immigrants with longtime residents.
Melanie Reding, deputy director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, said helping immigrant families feel a sense of belonging in the region benefits the broader community.
“Investing in programs that help immigrant neighbors put down roots here is a part of how this region stays true to itself, how it stays sustainable,” Reding said. “Our region is being shaped by people who choose this place.”
Grimmette said that sense of connection is particularly important at a time when many immigrants feel targeted by the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation operations, which have affected dozens of North Country immigrants, including in Tupper Lake, Sackets Harbor, and most recently, Lake Placid.
Given that immigrant detentions are ongoing, Grimmette said a new focus for North Country Immigrant Allies is to build a sense of community between Adirondack residents and the immigrants living beside them.
“We want to do everything we can to help educate local folks throughout the Adirondacks of who immigrants are in our community,” said Grimmette. “What their roles have been, where they come from, a bit more about their stories, and really helping people see them as humans.”
David Escobar is a Report For America Corps Member. He reports on diversity issues in the Adirondacks through a partnership between North Country Public Radio and Adirondack Explorer.