Background
We are the only organization in San Antonio providing long-term shelter and support for immigrant families.
We work to build independence and self-sufficiency within a community context so that, as they are building stability, families are also building a strong network, creating connections for receiving the knowledge and wisdom of others, as well as being invited to give back to help others.
We often receive families that have significant medical needs, are single parent families, have children with special needs, or have experienced debilitating trauma or loss–factors that make it harder for them to find stability.
Building a Community of Hope
Nuevos Vecinos supports immigrants who are seeking asylum, meaning that they have crossed the border and declared that they feel unsafe returning to their home country.
Asylum-seekers are legally allowed to be in the United States while their case is processed through the immigration court system, but they can wait up to a year and a half to receive a valid work permit and social security number.
They usually arrive with nothing more than the clothes they are wearing, in a country where the language, culture, and geography are all completely new to them. Many asylum-seekers have family members already here who receive them, but about a third have a sponsor who fails to respond once they arrive or for some other reason have nowhere to go.
It takes an incredible amount of hope to decide to come to the United States, knowing all of the challenges and uncertainties. The vast majority of immigrants want to work hard, find a good home, get their kids in school, and be a strong and contributing member of a community.
Asylum-Seekers
Typically, immigrants are described as...
-Helpless and desperate.
-Frightened, hungry, and alone.
-Suffering and traumatized.
-Stranded, trapped, and exhausted.
-Coming in overwhelming, unsustainable numbers.
-Opportunists, willing to take advantage of any generosity.
-From home countries that are overrun with violence and poverty.
But there is a bigger and truer story.
Immigrants are...
-Full of hope that a life of safety and stability if possible for them and their families
-Full of strength and resilience.
-Full of promise and potential to be important and contributing members of their new community.
-Ready to participate in a new culture, put down roots, and create new and meaningful lives.
-A vital part of the revitalization of our economy and society.
-Motivated to give back to help others in need.
-Connected to family in their home country who they love and who love them.
When we only focus on the need, we tend to just fill in gaps in a limited way rather than create pathways towards independence and empowerment. We tend to think of immigrants as separate, incapable, and unable to manage their own lives, rather than building trust in mutual relationships with them as fellow human beings.
Instead, we can recognize that the need that we see is falsely created by a system that strips people of their external resources and hides their considerable internal capital beneath dehumanizing rules and cultural and linguistic differences.
We also recognize that trauma-healing requires not just the creation of safety but, more importantly, empowerment–an opportunity to demonstrate one’s strength, resilience, hope, promise, and potential.
After experiences like immigration and that lead to immigration, people become whole again when they are able to make decisions for themselves and their family, have input into the direction of their community, participate in meaningful and fulfilling work, and have opportunities to help others. That is what we aim to provide through our program.