Rob Rutland-Brown, Director of National Justice For Our Neighbors, says needs for service have “skyrocketed.”
Atlanta, Georgia, April 3, 2017–The United Methodist Church’s program and service agencies are exploring ways to increase collaboration in ministries with refugees and other migrants. Representatives of 10 agencies and partners met March 31 to share information and discuss ways to work together for greater impact on the lives of a record number of displaced people worldwide.
Some 66 million people are forcibly displaced today, about 22 million of them refugees, said Erol Kekic, a staff member of Church World Service (CWS), an ecumenical organization that is one of nine registered refugee resettlement operations in the United States. It works with United Methodist congregations in placing refugees.
Justice For Our Neighbors was among agencies present at the gathering. National Justice for Our Neighbors was created by UMCOR and spun off into a separate organization, with UMCOR remaining its major source of funding. It works with low-income clients who cannot afford private immigration attorneys, said Rob Rutland-Brown, executive director. It helps people apply for asylum, get green cards, and apply for status under the federal DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) policy. It also helps victims of violent crimes to live independently of their abusers, he said, and it assists unaccompanied minor children fleeing gang violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, he said.
In 2016, Justice for Our Neighbors served 35 percent more clients than in the previous year, hitting the 10,000 mark in terms of cases undertaken, Rutland-Brown said. The organization opened a site near the US-Mexico border last month in Imperial Valley, California.
The Michigan Area has two Justice For Our Neighbors offices with numerous clinic sites.
Justice For Our Neighbors Southeastern Michigan (JFON SEMI) began in 2009. Operating out of Beverly Hills United Methodist Church, the free legal services to immigrants and refugees revolve around three monthly legal clinics in Dearborn, Detroit and Ypsilanti.
Justice For Our Neighbors West Michigan started in 2004. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, their ministry of hospitality is also offered in Holland, Kalamazoo and Traverse City.
Plans are currently in progress for the merger of the two Michigan JFON ministries.
Last Updated on November 2, 2023