{"id":5374,"date":"2020-12-14T18:59:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T18:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrionline.org\/?p=11336"},"modified":"2020-12-14T18:59:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T18:59:10","slug":"press-release-during-twentieth-anniversary-hris-founding-vision-ensured-the-rental-food-and-social-services-support-necessary-during-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/14\/press-release-during-twentieth-anniversary-hris-founding-vision-ensured-the-rental-food-and-social-services-support-necessary-during-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: During Twentieth Anniversary, HRI\u2019s Founding Vision Ensured the Rental, Food and Social Services Support Necessary During the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\n<\/span>December 14, 2020<\/p>\n

Contact:\u00a0<\/b>Kali Cohn
\n<\/span>972-638-7438 | kcohn@hrionline.org<\/span><\/p>\n

During Twentieth Anniversary, HRI\u2019s Founding Vision Ensured the Rental, Food and Social Services Support Necessary During the Pandemic\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2013 This December, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the country, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas celebrates its twentieth birthday and the founding vision that primed the organization to distribute close to $250,000 of direct rental payments, utility payments and emergency funds since the public health crisis began.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn this twentieth anniversary, we remain inspired by our over 600 clients from countries all over the world,\u201d said Bill Holston, HRI\u2019s Executive Director. \u201cThey are navigating the challenges of the pandemic and economic crisis with strength, grace and fortitude. We\u2019re honored to help them weather this storm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people know HRI as a nonprofit law firm serving immigrants fleeing human rights abuses. But two decades ago, its founders had a more holistic vision. Because people navigating the immigration process had needs beyond their immigration cases, social services support was also essential. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has shown the importance of baking social services into our fabric from the very beginning,\u201d said Elisandra De La Cruz, HRI\u2019s Social Services Director. \u201cMany of our clients are on the front-lines of this economic and health crisis. Our model allowed us to quickly scale up and provide an unprecedented amount of direct aid to our clients.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through funds from the City of Dallas, Texas Women\u2019s Foundation, North Texas Cares, and generous donors in the community, HRI\u2019s social services team has distributed nearly $250,000 in direct aid. The team has also distributed hundreds of grocery cards and bags of toiletries, thanks to donations from religious and community partners throughout the region. HRI is also able to arrange grocery delivery and other assistance for clients in quarantine with COVID-19. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HRI is\u2014and always has been\u2014a volunteer-powered operation. As HRI co-founder Betsy Healy reflected in 2005 to the Texas Lawyer, \u201cWe have some of the best lawyers in the state do this for us in their free time. That\u2019s a big piece of the puzzle.\u201d Last fiscal year, HRI worked with over 300 pro bono attorneys on its cases. The other piece of the puzzle is the non-legal volunteers, who do everything from translation and interpretation to toiletry and food drives in order to support HRI clients. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past ten years, we\u2019ve scaled up our capacity to provide social services to our clients,\u201d said Holston. \u201cMy staff recently reminded me that, back in 2012, I talked to Dallas Morning News about how the backlog of immigration cases was creating an increased demand for social services. Our team has worked hard to build relationships with generous folks in the community who wanted to support our clients\u2019 basic needs. Those folks have really come through for our clients during this difficult time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HRI is celebrating the inspiring clients, staff, and volunteers that built the organization and made its work possible through 12 Days of Human Rights on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>. The celebration coincides with the annual observance of Human Rights Day on December 10. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About Human Rights Initiative of North Texas\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

For the past 20 years, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas has provided legal and critical social services for immigrant survivors of human rights abuses from all over the world. For more information, visit\u00a0www.hrionline.org<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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The post Press Release: During Twentieth Anniversary, HRI\u2019s Founding Vision Ensured the Rental, Food and Social Services Support Necessary During the Pandemic<\/a> appeared first on Human Rights Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Blog \u2013 Human Rights Initiative<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 14, 2020 Contact:\u00a0Kali Cohn 972-638-7438 | kcohn@hrionline.org During Twentieth Anniversary, HRI\u2019s Founding Vision Ensured the Rental, Food and Social Services Support Necessary During the Pandemic\u00a0 DALLAS \u2013 This December, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the country, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas celebrates its … <\/p>\n

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The post Press Release: During Twentieth Anniversary, HRI\u2019s Founding Vision Ensured the Rental, Food and Social Services Support Necessary During the Pandemic<\/a> appeared first on Human Rights Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":491,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5375,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5374\/revisions\/5375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}